Tag: Cyprus

Prime minister, foreign minister meet with Cypriot foreign affairs minister

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail met with Cypriot minister of foreign affairs loannis Kasoulidis early on Tuesday in the presence of Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and Cyprus’ ambassador in Egypt to discuss bilateral relations, according to a statement from the prime minister’s spokesperson Hossam Qawesh.

During the meeting, Ismail pointed out the depth of Egyptian-Cypriot relations, confirming that recently these have developed significantly through enhancements in joint cooperation between both countries.

The prime minister stressed the necessity of supporting and advancing cooperation between both countries, especially in energy discovery and natural gas extraction fields, which were at the forefront of their discussions. During the meeting, Ismail referenced scheduling an appointment for the Egyptian minister of petroleum to visit Cyprus to discuss strengthening cooperation in this area.

Ismail further praised Cyprus’ international efforts, confirming that Egypt will continue supporting it to solve its issues in accordance with a United Nations decision.

According to the statement, the Egyptian prime minister discussed Egypt’s ongoing preparations for the Egyptian-Greek-Cypriot tripartite summit, which will be held in Cairo this year. The summit will be used to develop mechanisms of the joint trilateral cooperation between the countries.

Regarding insurance dues of former Egyptian employees in Cyprus, the Cypriot foreign minister suggested allocating an additional amount during the current year to pay those dues.

The officials also reviewed and agreed on several procedures, which include the establishment of olive tree plantations in the Sinai and fish farms off the coast of Egypt, as well as work on activate yacht tourism and tourism programmes shared between the two countries.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

August 12, 2016
Cobalt to fly from June

Larnaca-based low-cost carrier Cobalt is all set to stretch its wings on June 1 starting with flights to Greece and the UK.
Chairman Gregory Diacou said after Cobalt was issued its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) on Wednesday: “Today marks the renaissance of the Cypriot aviation industry”.
He added: “We are proud to play our part in Cyprus’ long aviation heritage.
“The thousands of messages of support that we have received during the recent weeks from Cypriots here and abroad proves that there is tremendous enthusiasm backing Cobalt as the country’s new national carrier.”
The Civil Aviation Authority issued Cobalt’s AOC after successfully completing a test flight from Larnaca to Heraklion carried out with its first Cyprus-registered Airbus A320.
Cobalt is scheduling the launch of operations to Athens on June 1, with flights to the UK and other European destinations starting later on that month.
At the same time, he highlighted the fact that, by the end of June, Cobalt will add another three aircraft to its fleet, raising the total number to four.
The chairman stressed that the company also plans to launch operations to non-European destinations, such as Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Iran and Egypt in the very near future.
“Since the demise of Cyprus Airways, our national air traffic rights to these countries have been lying dormant,” Diacou said.
“These are significant economic assets that we must now utilise in order to support the development of the Cypriot tourist industry and the broader economy.”
Diacou also said that, prior to their first official flight, they have generated more than 100 new jobs locally and that hundreds more will follow.
“Furthermore, we very much appreciate the professionalism of the Cypriot civil aviation authorities in handling the AOC process so effectively and thank them for their support.”

(in-cyprus.com)

May 31, 2016
Egypt looks forward to holding Egyptian-Cypriot-Greek Summit in Cairo

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi received on Tuesday 12/4/2016 visiting Cypriot Parliament Speaker Yiannakis Omirou in the presence of Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal and the Cypriot Ambassador to Egypt.

Sisi welcomed the Cypriot legislator and highlighted the depth of relations binding the two countries, said presidential spokesman Alaa Yousef, adding that president Sisi expressed hope for holding a tripartite summit in Cairo between him and the leaders of Cyprus and Greece to continue discussions on various issues.

The president welcomed Cyprus stances supporting Egypt and its people as well as its support for Egypt at regional and international gatherings.

President Sisi also praised cooperation between the two countries during the hijacking of the Egyptian plane in Cyprus weeks ago, which reflected the strength of Egyptian-Cypriot relations.

The Cypriot parliament speaker conveyed the greetings of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to President Sisi and also praised cooperation between the two countries in the economic domains.

The Cyprus speaker said during a meeting earlier with prime minister Sherif Ismail that Egyptian-Cypriot ties gained momentum recently and underscored his country’s keenness on offering support for Egypt in its anti-terrorism and extremism efforts.

(www.sis.gov.eg)

April 21, 2016
Greek-Cypriot author Georgiou wins 2016 European Literature Award

Greek Cypriot author Antonis Georgiou has received the ‘European Literature Award’ for 2016 for his book titled ‘An album of stories’, originally title: ‘Ena alpum istories’, published by ‘To Rodakio’. The European Literature Award started in 2009 by the EU in an effort to promote young successful authors in their home countries to a pan-European audience. The judging committee is made up of 10 people from the countries participating in the event each year. The author wrote on his facebook page that he was pleased to have been selected and thanked the committee. The Award ceremony is scheduled to take place in Brussels at the end of May.

(en.protothema.gr)

April 6, 2016
Egypt signs military cooperation agreement with Cyprus

Egypt’s defence minister Sedki Sobhi and his Cypriot counterpart Christophoros Fokaides signed a joint military cooperation agreement Monday in Cairo, an Egyptian army spokesman said.

Sobhi and Fokaides, who is the first Cypriot defence minister to visit Egypt, also discussed previously signed memoranda of understanding for cooperation in defence, military trainings, and exchange of expertise, Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

Fokaides and Sobhi tackled “marine and energy security and prospects for cooperation in the energy sector,” according to a Cypriot press release, Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported.

The press release stipulated that a Joint Rescue Coordination Center delegation will visit Egypt in the coming weeks to sign an agreement about cooperation in Search and Rescue.

Both defence ministers also discussed regional and international matters, including security challenges, the fight against terrorism, and the immigration crisis, according to CNA.

Sedki Sobhi expressed his appreciation for the depth of relations between Egypt and Cyprus, based on coordination and matching positions on regional matters for the security and stability of both countries, Egypt’s army spokesperson said.

Fokaides talked about Egypt’s regional importance and called for the support in its efforts in fighting regional terrorism, the Cypriot press release stated.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended a tripartite summit in Athens last December with the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades.

(english.ahram.org.eg)

March 6, 2016
Religious Leaders Make Joint Appeal for Information on Missing Persons

Cyprus’ religious leaders have made a joint appeal to Cypriots of all creeds to provide information to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) on possible burial sites.

On Monday, “Archbishop Chrysostomos II of the Church of Cyprus, Dr Talip Atalay,Mufti of Cyprus, Archbishop Soueif of the Maronite Church of Cyprus, also representing the Latin Patriarchal Vicar and Representative of the Apostolic Nunciature in Cyprus, and the representative of Archbishop Nareg of the Armenian Orthodox Church of Cyprus visited the CMP laboratory accompanied by Ambassador Klas Gierow of Sweden and met with the CMP Members and scientists,” an UNFICYP press release said.

It is added that “the visit was organized within the framework of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process under the Auspices of the Embassy of Sweden.

(greece.greekreporter.com)

February 10, 2016
Greece, Cyprus, Egypt to speed up talks over sea boundaries

Greece, Egypt and Cyprus agreed on Wednesday to speed up talks to demarcate sea boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of efforts to turn the region into an offshore natural gas hub.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades met in Athens to discuss how they could take advantage of gas reserves especially after Egypt this year discovered the biggest offshore gas field in the Mediterranean.

Read more at: www.reuters.com

December 14, 2015
Heads of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece to meet in December presidential summit

The presidents of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece will meet on 9 December in a tripartite summit in Athens to discuss steps to strengthen ties between the three countries, Cyprus government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides stated.

This is the third meeting between the three countries this year, with the two prior meetings taking place in Egypt and Cyprus and involving discussions on ways to combat terrorism, economic projects as well as the global refugee crisis.

Earlier this month, Egypt’s Defence Minister Sedky Sobhi visited Cyprus in an invitation by his Cypriot counterpart to discuss a number of strategic matters.

Last May, Egyptian, Greek and Cypriot naval forces conducted a joint practice drill in the Mediterranean, followed by joint Egyptian-Greek air force exercises.

(http://english.ahram.org.eg)

November 23, 2015
3rd Egyptian, Cypriot, Greek Summit to Be Held in Athens in Dec.

The Third Egyptian-Cypriot-Greek Summit will be held in Athens next month, a senior Cypriot official said. During a meeting with an Egyptian press team on Wednesday, 18/11/2015 Ambassador Leonidas Pantelides, the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department, said the first summit was held in Cairo and the second in Nicosia.

He lauded the depth of Cypriot-Egyptian ties which he described as “excellent”, especially at the political and economic levels. Pantelides said Egypt and Cyprus are two “neighboring and friendly states.” Cyprus highly appreciates the role played by Egypt in the region, especially in backing the peace process. Pantelides added that without Egypt’s support for the Middle East peace process, there would be no Palestinian-Israeli negotiation. He noted that his country is coordinating efforts with Egypt concerning Middle East issues of mutual concern, underlining the importance of backing a political solution in Syria.

The ambassador said Cyprus backs the Egyptian authority under Abdel Fattah El Sisi. He noted that Cyprus works on encouraging more Egypt-EU dialogue. Pantelides underlined that the dialogue between the EU and Egypt is extremely important. He stressed that Egypt’s stability is very important, noting that all countries must have realized this in the aftermath of terror attacks worldwide. Pantelides noted that Egypt and Cyprus cooperate in the field of combating terror which became an international phenomenon. Meanwhile, he called for an Egyptian-Cypriot-Greek cooperation in the tourism domain, including organizing a tourist package for the three states.

(http://allafrica.com)

November 20, 2015
Greek-Cyprus-Egypt FMs work to tighten bonds

Foreign ministers from Greece, Cyprus and Egypt held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said that amongst issues discussed was the tripartite meeting to be held in Athens. During the event, Kotzias extended an invitation to both Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukrik and Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kassoulides to visit Athens on October 18-20 for the conference on the protection of populations of the Middle East.

“We care for the welfare of our people, the stability and stabilization of the region, the fight against extremism, protecting the communities existing throughout the Middle East, both cultural and religious ones,” said Kotzias.

On his part, Kassoulides said, “We had a substantial discussion on issues concerning our region, the relations of Egypt with the EU, the issue of Syria, terrorism and refugees. We also discussed the situation in Libya.”

Shukrik said that they discussed political, economic and social issues, relating to the tightening their countries’ bonds while addressing the challenges related to conflicts in the region.

(en.protothema.gr)

September 30, 2015