Minister highlights importance of defence readiness in Zygi

At a time when geopolitical developments and security challenges are constantly changing, maintaining our defence capabilities at high levels is a top priority, Cyprus Defence Minister Vassilis Palmas said on Thursday, at an event for demonstrating the operational capabilities of the National Guard, which took place in the coastal area of Zygi, in the Larnaca district.

The event was held as part of the National Guard's 60th anniversary celebrations. The Minister of Defence referred to “sixty years of continuous contribution to the defence of the territorial integrity of our homeland and the struggle to maintain the sense of security of our people”.

He added that at a time when geopolitical developments and security challenges are constantly changing, for his Ministry, maintaining the country’s defence capabilities at high levels was a top priority, noting that the region has always been an area of conflicts and one of geopolitical and geostrategic rearrangements.

With this in mind, he added, “and realising that changing associations and alliances create significant opportunities, over the last decade a proactive systematic foreign policy has been implemented, which has achieved the improvement and deepening of our relations and partnerships with neighbouring states and important actors in the area”.

Through these partnerships, Palmas said, the National Guard organises and participates in joint exercises and joint trainings with military units of other armies, through which the personnel come into contact with new tactics and methods, expanding their knowledge and experiences.

In his own greeting, the Chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Georgios Tsitsikostas, said that “the evolutionary course of the National Guard, through the modernisation of the existing weapons systems” but also the upgraded capabilities of the new means that are to be acquired in the near future, makes the force “a powerful tool” for the actualisation of the political-military aspirations of the Republic of Cyprus.

President Nikos Christodoulides attended the 45-minute demonstration that was divided into nine sections that took place on land, sea and air. The demonstration was also attended by, among others, the President of DIKO, representatives of parliamentary parties, MPs members of the House Defence Committee, the Commander of the Hellenic Force in Cyprus (ELDYK), the Ambassador of Greece, representatives of the Police and Fire Service, defence attachés and observers from other countries as well as the Supreme President and members of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA).