Athens, Greece - Secretary of State Marco Rubio is continuing his overseas trip with a visit to Athens on Wednesday ahead of a "strategic dialogue" with the the NATO member on regional and energy security.

Rubio, who arrived from Iceland on Tuesday, is set to meet Greek leaders including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis on Tuesday.

"Greece is a very important US ally," Rubio told reporters ahead of the visit. "It's a place that we have not just a military presence but strong economic ties."

In February, lease agreements were signed in Athens granting a consortium led by US energy giant Chevron exclusive rights for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in maritime areas to the south of the Peloponnese and Crete.

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A longtime buyer of US weaponry, Greece is also to acquire 20 F-35 warplanes, with pilot training to begin in 2027.

The highlight of Rubio's visit is set to be his address from the Pnyx, a hill near the Acropolis that is the parliamentary assembly of ancient Athenian democracy.

"Secretary Rubio will deliver an address from the birthplace of Western civilization, where he will call upon Americans and Europeans alike to join together in a great renewal of the Western spirit, an inheritance stretching from Athens and Rome to Christendom to the founding of the American Republic," Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson told reporters.

"He will warn that too much of our civilization has forgotten these essential qualities, and urge our allies across the West to join the United States in rejecting decline, defending our shared heritage, and confronting a new era of great-power competition together."

Rubio had earlier visited Iceland in a bid to boost the US' presence in the Arctic. He later wraps up his European tour with a brief stop in Lisbon.