Cyprus to open 4 new embassies this year

Cyprus' diplomatic presence abroad is being upgraded with the reopening or the opening of four embassies in 2023.

Asked by CNA, the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, Theodoros Gotsis, said that Cyprus' High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, reopened in February this year.

He further noted that in 2023 the Embassy of Cyprus in Jakarta, Indonesia, will reopen, while a procedure is underway for the opening of Embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in Manama, Bahrain - the only country of the Arab Gulf in which Cyprus has no diplomatic mission so far.

As regards the High Commission in Kenya, which reopened under diplomat Savvas Vladimirou, Gotsis said that apart from its importance in developing the historical bilateral relations between the two countries, it is worth noting that Nairobi is the seat of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN central regional office in the African continent.

Moreover, he said that the Orthodox Church Of Kenya has its seat in Nairobi under the Cypriot Archbishop of Nairobi and Exarch of All Kenya Makarios Tillyrides, who has under his patronage the "Makarios" Orphanage in Nyeri. The Republic of Cyprus has signed an MoU with the Sophia for Children Foundation for the financial support of the orphanage.

As regards the reopening of the Cypriot Embassy in Indonesia, Gotsis noted that this is the biggest Islamic country in population which plays an important role, among others, in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. He also noted that the aim of opening an Embassy in Argentina is for Cyprus to have a stronger presence in South America.

The Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said that the reopening and opening of diplomatic missions of the Republic of Cyprus abroad has been the result of the successful cooperation between the Ministry's leadership and employees during the last years, which led to the solution of a long-standing issue regarding the Ministry's staffing, as 50 new posts were approved by the Ministry of Finance covering the period 2021-2025.

In this way it is expected that the number of diplomats will be restored to the levels that we had before the economic crisis and the diplomatic service will be significantly upgraded in order to be a modern European diplomatic service, he added.