Press Releases

A warm welcome to you and your esteemed delegation.

Thank you for your visit which constitutes a milestone in our bilateral defence cooperation.

Your presence is a watershed moment as we have embarked in pursuing the further advancement of our bilateral defence cooperation.

Though not so widely known, our two countries have a long-standing defence cooperation through the facilities offered by the Republic of Cyprus to the German UNIFIL Maritime Task Force contingent which is based in Cyprus since 2006.

We will continue to support you in this important deployment for the fulfilment of the mission's mandate for ensuring maritime security in the area.

Turning to our meeting, we had very constructive discussions in an array of issues ranging from tangible ways for enhancing our defence collaboration and pertinent issues of European and regional security.

Our countries have only to gain through their collaboration. It comes at a time when the rules based international order is questioned and revisionist powers are on the rise.

The effects of the illegal Russian invasion to Ukraine are more than visible and affect all of us. We discussed the EU's response and support given to Ukraine through our policies, including the establishment of the new CSDP Military Assistance Mission, for which Germany has a leading role.

I also had the opportunity to brief the German Minister of Defence for the continuing illegal Turkish military occupation in Cyprus and Ankara's destabilising role and revisionist policy vis-à-vis Cyprus and neighbouring countries including the instrumentalisation of migration.

I want to express my appreciation to the German Minister of Defence for sharing a forward-looking approach for developing our bilateral cooperation both in terms of institutional framework and military to military cooperation.

It is important that EU member states seek to advance their bilateral defence agenda for ensuring European security and prosperity.

We also have opportunities for cooperation within the EU framework such as in the various European defence initiatives for the development and procurement of armaments and capabilities, thus strengthening the European defence industrial base.

To that end we will work jointly for fostering a robust and long-term bilateral defence cooperation with Germany which will be based on the principles of international law and the promotion of our European values.

I want to note that earlier this year we signed our first ever bilateral defence cooperation programme and last month we have posted a Defence Attaché at our Embassy in Berlin. These steps will ensure that our cooperation will be developed in a sustained manner in the immediate future.

With today's visit and our in-depth consultations our cooperation receives new impetus and momentum for working together for addressing mutual threats and harnessing new opportunities.

Once again, thank you very much for your visit and I look forward to continuing our discussions in the coming weeks and months.