Press Releases

The 4th Cyprus-Greece-Israel Tripartite Summit took place today, at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, under the leadership of the President of the Republic, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, the Prime Minister of Greece, Mr Alexis Tsipras, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Prime Minister of Israel arrived at the Presidential Palace in the morning where he was welcomed by the President of the Republic. A private meeting between the two leaders followed.

Then the Prime Minister of Greece arrived at the Presidential Palace and was also welcomed by the President of the Republic.

Immediately thereafter a private meeting between the Prime Ministers of Greece and Israel took place.

Subsequently, the three leaders held a private meeting together, on the sidelines of which there were also private meetings held among Ministers of the three countries and specifically the Ministers of Energy, Environment and Communications.

Expanded tripartite talks followed among the delegations of the three countries, led by President Anastasiades and the Prime Ministers of Greece and Israel.

Bilateral and trilateral Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding were then signed in the presence of the three leaders.

More specifically, with regard to the tripartite Agreements and Memoranda the following were signed: Memorandum of understanding between the government of the Republic of Cyprus, the Government of the Hellenic Republic and the Government of the State of Israel on cooperation in the field of space technologies, satellite operations and applications.

Memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of telecommunications and information and communications technology between the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, the Government of the State of Israel and the Government of the Hellenic Republic.

Implementation agreement between the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, the Government of the Hellenic Republic and the Government of the State of Israel on a Sub-regional Marine Oil Pollution Contingency Plan.

Memorandum of Understanding between the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Union of the Hellenic Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce.

Moreover, at a bilateral level between Cyprus and Israel an Agreement was signed for cooperation on issues of Public Safety and an Agreement for cooperation in the field of film coproduction.

The three leaders then made remarks to the media.

President Anastasiades, in his remarks, said among other things, that "at the present summit we agreed in the joint implementation of new projects and programs, including among others, in the fields of interconnectedness and communications, research and technology, environmental protection and combating terrorism."

He also said that he briefed the two Prime Ministers on the latest developments on the Cyprus problem and the prospects for the resumption of the negotiations.

As he noted, "what I stressed to my interlocutors is the readiness of our side, at any moment, to engage again in a new dialogue from where it was stopped in July 2017 at Crans Montana, provided that the common objective is to have Cyprus evolve into a 'normal state' as the UN Secretary-General described, in other words: a truly independent and sovereign state, free of third party dependencies, foreign guarantees and military forces.

At the same time, I underlined that for the dialogue to be creative and productive, Turkey must refrain from any provocative actions or violations of the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus."

On his part, the Prime Minister of Israel said, among other things, that the next Tripartite Summit will take place in 2018 in the city of Beer Sheva in Israel, which he described as a cyber city.

He also pointed out that there is cooperation in many fields among the three countries.

The Prime Minister of Greece stated, among other things, that in 2018 "we will sign the interstate agreement on the EastMed and this by itself renders today's meeting as highly constructive."

Referring to the Cyprus problem Prime Minister Tsipras said that "we expressed our support to the efforts of President Nicos Anastasiades for a just and viable solution for the benefit of all the people of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, a solution that will be based on the UN Security Council decisions and will be consistent with the status of Cyprus as a member state of the EU, with the abolition of the guarantees and with the withdrawal of the occupation army.

In this framework, we stressed that we support the resumption of the talks always on the basis of the parameters set by the UN Secretary-General.”

Finally, in reference to the provocations by Turkey in the Aegean, the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone and in the broader region, Mr Tsipras said that "Turkey ought to respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors as those emanate from international treaties and international law. A position that I believe is common among the three of us, and it is in this direction that we must intensify our cooperation, so that all the neighboring countries follow the logic for the respect of international law and good neighborliness."

(RM/AH/SCH)