Press Releases

The President of the Republic, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, received the credentials of the Ambassador of Georgia, Mr Teimuraz Kekelidze, during a formal ceremony held at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 5 November 2020.

Presenting his credentials, Mr Kekelidze, speaking in English, said:

“Your Excellency, President Nicos Anastasiades,

I have the great honor to present to Your Excellency the letter of Credence by which Her Excellency President Salome Zourabichvili appoints me as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia, as well as the Letter of Recall of my predecessor, Ambassador Revaz Lominadze. I am privileged to represent my country’s Government and the People as the Georgian Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus.

From the outset, allow me to convey to you, Mr President, warm greetings and extend best wishes of Madame President. As Her Excellency, President Zurabichvili outlined in her letter of congratulations on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Cyprus, the Georgian side is ready to pay reciprocal visit of the President of Georgia to Nicosia as soon as the Covid related situation allows us to agree on the dates of the visit.

I start my tenure with great appreciation for the strong friendship between our two countries. We very much value the relations with the Republic of Cyprus, which are multidimensional and based on common values of democracy, freedom and respect for international law.

I would like to emphasize that throughout the years our relationship has transformed into close partnership reflected through regular bilateral contacts and high level visits. The cooperation between our countries was given new momentum in April 2019, when, Your Excellency visited Georgia. It was the first ever visit of the President of the Republic of Cyprus to my country. Within the frames of the visit, the first Georgia-Cyprus business forum was held enabling more than 120 companies to explore mutually beneficial business projects.

As an Ambassador, it’s my duty to build on what has been achieved in our bilateral relations, including the prospective projects that have been discussed during your visit and thus, work tirelessly in order to fully realise the potential of bilateral cooperation.

Georgia, ranking amongst one of the top countries when it comes to the simplicity of doing business, remains to be highly attractive for investments. I strongly believe that there is indeed real potential for trade and economic cooperation in various spheres including but not limited to tourism, agriculture, the maritime sector, innovation and entrepreneurship. The Cyprus-Georgia Business Association and the Cyprus-Georgia Business Club have the potential to play a pivotal role in shaping and promoting concrete business ideas.

Similarly, I will continue working on establishing a legal framework for circular and temporary labour migration between our countries. This will be mutually beneficial both for overall economic growth, as well as for decreasing the cases of irregular migration and illegal employment.

Another fundamental dimension where our states enjoy close ties is in culture. Throughout the long history of our ancient nations, we have had a rich continuous cultural and spiritual interaction. The Georgian monasteries in Ghalia, Alaminos and Softades had been functioning in Cyprus for centuries during the medieval times, promoting connection and friendship between our churches and in fact between our nations.

Furthermore, in 2018 Archbishop Chrysostomos II and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus took an unprecedented decision to gift 13000 square meters of land to the Patriarchate of Georgia for the purpose of building a monastery. The Georgian side highly appreciates this commendable act of good will and friendship, which once again demonstrates that we have preserved our bonds throughout centuries and so provides new incentive for intensified religious and people to people interaction.

The European and Euro-Atlantic integration continue to be of top priority in Georgia’s foreign policy. We highly regard support of Cyprus in Georgia’s European integration process. Our cooperation in the context of the EU provides us with an opportunity to advance our shared interests and make the world better and safer.

Our countries are guided by strong adherence to international law, particularly to the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty of states. I would like to thank the Cypriot side for its support of Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including cosponsoring the UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Cooperation with Georgia and its contribution to the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.  

In a similar manner, Georgia continues to support the resumption of direct negotiations between the leaders of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, which will achieve a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement for the Cyprus problem within the UN framework, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and EU principles.

Your Excellency, I look forward to working with the Government and the People of Cyprus to continue to further strengthen this tradition of partnership in order to benefit welfare of our nations.

Receiving the credentials, the President of the Republic said:

“It is with great pleasure and distinct honour that I receive today your Letters of Credence, appointing you as the new Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of Cyprus. Ι wish to assure you that my Government will provide every assistance in the performance of your high duties.

Through the years, our two countries have developed strong ties of friendship and close cooperation. These were based on our common respect for peace and democracy, and our joint commitment to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. I firmly believe that we also share the political will to further advance our bilateral relations to the mutual benefit of our people.

An important step to this direction was made on the occasion of my official visit to Tiblisi, in April 2019, during which three important agreements were signed in the fields of Health, Agriculture and for the mutual Protection of Classified Information. I want to take this opportunity to reiterate the invitation extended to the President of Georgia to visit Cyprus, in reciprocating my own visit to Georgia, once the conditions with the pandemic allows it.

Excellency,

I look forward to working closely with you with a view to further expanding the institutional framework governing the relations between our two countries. This will allow us to diversify our cooperation, tapping into the existing potential in areas of mutual interest, in particular strengthening economic ties, intensifying bilateral trade and enhancing investment opportunities for our two business communities. We also consider important to exploit new ways of extending people-to-people contacts. In doing so, we will be building upon the contribution the Georgian community in Cyprus has made in knitting the bonds of friendship between our countries.  

Moreover, it is our firm belief that the advancement of the EU-Georgia relations will open up an array of possibilities for furthering our bilateral engagement. In this respect, we are eager to support EU-Georgia related issues with a view to further deepening Georgia’s political association and economic integration with the EU. 

The Cyprus economy, as all economies around the globe, is currently facing significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Government responded swiftly, focusing primarily on the control of infection rates and the strengthening of our health care system. In this regard, we have adopted specific policies and measures in order to support employment and businesses, aiming to gradually return to recovery paths.

In fact, Cyprus adopted one of the most comprehensive fiscal support packages in the EU, without risking the long term sustainability of public finances. The Government was able to do so, because over the past few years we had accumulated the necessary fiscal buffers that could be used in emergency cases such as the current public health crisis.

As regards the outlook of the economy, we expect a contraction of real GDP of about 5.5% during 2020, with services and tourism being most affected. Despite this, the forecasts for 2021 suggest a significant rebound of the economy of about +4.5%. The Government's broader strategy for economic recovery includes the sustainable management of public finances, the promotion of key structural reforms and the reduction of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs).

I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for Georgia’s principled position as regards the solution of the Cyprus problem and your country’s support on our efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement. A settlement that will first and foremost address the aspiration of the people of Cyprus for a free, sovereign, integral and independent State able to ensure peace and prosperity for its people and to contribute to cooperation and stability in the wider region.

As regards the prospects for a solution to the Cyprus problem, we have repeatedly expressed our readiness to resume negotiations from where they were left off in Crans Montana. However, Turkey’s illegal actions within our maritime zones run contrary to the necessity of having a good and positive climate that will enable the resumption of the negotiating process under the auspices of the United Nations. These Turkish actions have been strongly condemned by the international community and the EU, since they infringe upon the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus and do not comply with International Law, particularly with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the principles of good neighbourly relations.

Apart from escalating tensions in our turbulent region, the illegal and provocative actions by Turkey not only adversely affect our efforts to resume the peace process, but they leave no room for bringing about the necessary conditions for all parties to engage in a results-oriented dialogue. We do hope that Turkey will finally chose to adopt a more pragmatic and constructive approach and abide by International Law.

Moreover, we are gravely concerned by Turkey’s decision to open the fenced area of Varosha, in contravention of the UN Security Council resolutions, in particular 550 (1984) and 789 (1992), despite the efforts of the international community, calling upon Turkey to reverse this course of action and abide by the relevant UN resolutions which call for the return and resettlement of Varosha by its rightful and lawful inhabitants.

To this end, we certainly rely on Georgia’s support to impress upon Turkey the necessity to cease its illegal actions and intimidation in order to create the necessary conditions for a peace process to be conducted in good faith and to have realistic prospects for success.

Ambassador Kekelidze,

In welcoming you to Cyprus, I would request you to convey to the President of Georgia my warmest greetings and to the friendly people of your country a message of sincere friendship. I conclude, by assuring you once more of my Government’s support to your noble mission, so that your tenure will be highly constructive and fruitful, and carried out in such a way that the sound relationship that Cyprus enjoys with Georgia will further flourish”.

(EK/SCH)