Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides and Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Wednesday reaffirmed in a joint statement for the 2nd Cyprus-Greece Intergovernmental Summit, which took place in Nicosia, their commitment to establish intergovernmental summits, “which contribute to ensuring stability” in the Eastern Mediterranean and further strengthen the bilateral cooperation between Greece and Cyprus, they said.
The two leaders also welcomed the mobility as regards the Cyprus problem, within the framework of the United Nations, the dinner in New York hosted by the Secretary-General on October 15 and his intention to convene a multilateral conference in the immediate future and “reaffirmed” that the solution to the Cyprus problem can only be based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. They also expressed “the expectation that Turkey would substantively contribute to the resumption of and the talks, within the agreed framework, for progress to exist in the EU-Turkey dialogue, in accordance with the Conclusions of the European Council of April 17-18.”
The Summit, the joint statement says, “focused particularly on cooperation for the improvement of the daily lives and the upgrade of the quality of life of the citizens of the two countries.”
In this context, it adds, it was decided to expand cooperation to new areas, such as labour and social policy, in order to complement the already existing areas of cooperation in education and health, while also noting that in the field of defence, the establishment of a Political Consultation and Interoperability Body was discussed.
President, Nikos Christodoulides and Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis co-chaired the 2nd Intergovernmental Summit of the two countries that was attended by the competent Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the two states for issues of Foreign Policy, Defence, Energy, Environment, Health, Education, Culture, Digital Policy, Research-Innovation-Technology, Labour and Social Security, Rule of Law, Justice, Economy, Social Policy, Shipping and Coordination of Government Projects.
Among other things, the statement says that in the energy sector, the two leaders discussed on “the significant” progress made in promoting the implementation of the Cyprus-Crete electricity interconnection project – the Great Sea Interconnector – with the signing of the Framework of Understanding between the two competent ministries as well as on the next steps.
“Satisfaction was also expressed for the interest shown for participation in the project by investment funds from various countries”, it adds, noting that, at the same time, it was decided to strengthen cooperation on the issues concerning the operation of the competitive market, natural gas and renewable energy sources.
They also welcome the “excellent cooperation” in the repatriation of citizens of the two countries from Lebanon last October.
The statement also refers to issues discussed as regards cooperation in the fields of education, healthcare, labour and social insurance, social welfare, digital policy, environment and climate change, civil protection, justice – including stamping out corruption and strengthening the rule of law, cooperation between the two states in public administration and governance, on research and development, shipping, and culture.
It was also agreed that the next intergovernmental summit is to take place in 2025 in Greece.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Also read: Joint communiqué of the Cyprus-Greece intergovernmental meeting
Source: CNA/EAN/EPH/2024
