MFA reinstates overseas Cypriots service

The Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots is reintegrated into the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following a relevant decision of the Council of Ministers.

Heading the Service will be Ambassador Theodora Constantinidou, following a decision by Foreign Minister Dr. Constantinos Kombos, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release on Friday.

The Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots Service was established in 1976 to utilize Cypriots of the Diaspora in Cyprus' struggle for survival and justice, as well as solve the problems of expatriate Cypriots abroad and returnees, it added.

The Council of Ministers decided to subordinate the Service to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. The Service for Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots was transferred in 2016 to the Presidency of the Republic.

Among the foreign policy objectives of the Republic of Cyprus is the development of relations with Cypriots of the Diaspora. With the reintegration of the Service into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs departments, the effort to further upgrade the issues of the Cypriot Diaspora and repatriated Cypriots will continue, the press release concluded.

[Information sourced from CNA]