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Cypriot President visits Jerusalem to discuss further regional cooperation
The president of Cyprus travelled to Jerusalem yesterday and met his Israeli counterpart, in order to discuss further cooperation between the two countries and Greece.
Prime Minister Nicos Anastasiades was accompanied by Cyprus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides, the Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Giorgos Lakkotrypis. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Anastasiades and described the two countries as “two small democracies in the eastern Mediterranean”. He added: “We also share common challenges, and also common opportunities: in security cooperation, in gas, in emergency cooperation, commerce, tourism, many, many fields.”
Anastasiades described Israel and Cyprus as “reliable partners that see eye-to-eye on a wide agenda of issues ranging from energy to security, to a very sincere, open and frank political dialogue”.
In particular, both leaders highlighted the aid provided to each other during large-scale forest fires in recent years. Netanyahu recalled that Cyprus was his first port of call in 2010 when a massive fire broke out in the Carmel Forest and that a plane was swiftly despatched. He added: “It was a privilege to reciprocate last month when you [Cyprus] faced a ferocious forest fire and we sent our planes to extinguish your flames.”
Anastasiades said that yesterday’s meeting was an opportunity to “enhance more our bilateral relations in the fields of energy, security, economy and trade, to exchange views on the regional developments” and to prepare for a trilateral meeting between the two countries and Greece in Jerusalem later this year.
In January, Netanyahu, Anastasiades and Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprias took part in the first ever tripartite summit between the three countries, at which the leaders pledged to cooperate on a number of regional issues. These included the burgeoning energy sector, plus security, agriculture, environment protection, health, and joint search and rescue. Netanyahu said yesterday: “I’m particularly proud to have this opportunity to continue the dialogue we began on a tripartite basis.”