Cypriot President wraps up Cairo visit

Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, concludes on Thursday his visit to Egypt, with a meeting with the Arab League Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, at the League's seat. After the meeting Christodoulides will depart for Cyprus.

On Wednesday Christodoulides had a meeting at the Presidential Palace, in Cairo, with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and expressed his will for boosting the cooperation between Cyprus and Egypt. The two Presidents also attended expanded talks of the two countries' delegations.

In statements, and referring, among others, to the energy cooperation between Cyprus and Egypt, President Christodoulides described the establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum as a milestone. He added that Cyprus will continue to work to upgrade cooperation in the framework of this forum.

He noted that they agreed to have the next Cyprus - Egypt intergovernmental conference next September in Cyprus, noting that Egypt is the first country with which Cyprus started to have such a cooperation.

We also look forward to our next common meeting with Greece, while we also exchanged views for the further expansion of these schemes, always on an ad hoc basis with other countries of the region, he added.

Moreover, Christodoulides briefed Sisi on developments in the Cyprus issue, thanking him on the long standing stance of Egypt in the framework of the Islamic Conference Organization.

On his part, Sisi said, among others, speaking through an interpreter, that the two countries enjoy relations of strategic importance and cooperation, while he referred to the substantial reinforcement of the bilateral relations during Nicos Anastasiades' governance.

He added that they discussed energy issues and the transfer of Cypriot natural gas to LNGs in Egypt, as well as the issue of the electric interconnection and green energy. Moreover, he noted that Egypt looks forward to cooperation with Cyprus in development and productive sectors.

Sisi stressed the need for countries to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries in the framework of the international law, noting that as regards the Cyprus problem Egypt supports Cyprus and always tries to contribute to the settlement of the problem on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions. Moreover, he referred to the successful trilateral relation among Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.

President Christodoulides is accompanied to Egypt by Foreign Minister, Konstantinos Kombos, Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister, George Papanastasiou, Government Spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, Deputy Director of the President's diplomatic office, Doros Venezis, and other officers.

Kombos and Papanastasiou had separate meetings with their Egyptian counterparts, on the sidelines of Christodoulides' meeting with Sisi.

During the talks the two countries expressed their will for jointly supporting the inclusion of the project for their electric interconnection in the list of projects of common interest of the EU. Moreover it was agreed to set up a Business Council with a view to enhance the relations between the two countries' businesspeople.

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.