Press Releases

Press Statement by the President of the Republic Mr Nikos Christodoulides after his meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Presidential Palace, today

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you and your delegation today in Lefkosia.

This marks our second meeting in only a few months, following my visit to Israel on the 11th of May.

Dear Benjamin, you have referred publicly prior to this visit to the deep friendship between our countries. It has been proven repeatedly and emphatically, at all levels, most recently when Israel, upon your instructions, immediately dispatched the operation Wings of Fire, providing critical assistance in batting the fires raging near Lemesos just a few weeks ago. And so, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally, to thank Israel and its people, for demonstrating time and time again that a friend in need is a friend indeed.   

This is a friendship, a strategic partnership with depth and remarkable potential for further expansion that I am fully committed to. This commitment is anchored on the shared values and interests between Cyprus and Israel, but also on common challenges our two countries face, as well as the common goals we are determined to pursue, underpinned by our vision for regional stability and prosperity. It is also a strategic partnership that is contributing in reshaping our neighbourhood.

Our meeting today is proving this very fact. The strategic essence of our friendship and our extensive engagement in crucial domains is strong and will solidify further.

In this regard, with the Prime Minister we took stock of the state of play of our partnership and the range of our shared objectives, and discussed the roadmap ahead.

We agreed to have our first government to government meeting the first quarter of 2024.

We agreed that while our bilateral collaboration has impressively reached new heights, there is so much more we want to do together. We have therefore identified next steps in key areas such as our political dialogue, energy, defence, A.I., business, and certainly tourism, in which the numbers are constantly rising - you will encounter Israeli tourists wherever you go Benjamin!

We also discussed extensively how we tackle terrorism. I reiterated to the Prime Minister that we stand by Israel in condemning all forms of terrorism in no uncertain terms.  We also highlighted the crucial importance of our ongoing coordination in this respect.

Passing on to energy cooperation, we discussed concretely how we proceed, as a follow up to our meeting in Jerusalem as well as the meeting of our Energy Ministers and the technical working groups on natural gas and hydrogen and on electrical interconnectivity. 

We also went through the strategic dimension in our energy cooperation and our coordination in the EMGF. We agreed that, particularly given Russian aggression in Ukraine and the need for energy diversification and increased interconnectivity, we should advance the numerous prospects of developing a reliable energy corridor between like minded countries linking the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe. This concerns projects such as electrical interconnections, pipelines for gas, cleaner energy sources and LNG terminals.

More specifically, we agreed that electrical interconnection, natural gas and renewable energy is a solid foundation for cooperation in the region. The projects of common interest that our countries cooperate in, such as the EuroAsia Interconnector, for which we agreed to accelerate its pace, are strategic options and all the more relevant in this respect.

When it comes to regional cooperation, we exchanged views on the way ahead in our Trilateral platform with Greece. We agreed on our commitment to expand this partnership and discussed concrete ways of pursuing this goal.  We very much look forward to discussing in further detail tomorrow with Kyriakos.

Benjamin also informed me extensively on the opportunities arising from the Abraham Accords. In this context I expressed Cyprus’ strong interest to act as a gateway through combining our trilateral projects in a broader regional format with other like minded partners form the Gulf to the Indian subcontinent.

Lastly, I briefed the Prime Minister on the latest developments on the Cyprus issue, our efforts for the resumption of the negotiations in line with the agreed UN framework. 

Dear Benjamin, I welcome you again and I thank you for the fruitful deliberations. I look forward to our further exchange and our trilateral meeting with the Greek Prime Minister tomorrow.

(RM/NG)