Foreign Affairs Minister of Cyprus Ioannis Kasoulides and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly signed on Tuesday afternoon a Memorandum of Strategic Partnership to enhance the already close bilateral relations between the two countries.
The Memorandum was signed during a special ceremony at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Westminster.
It refers to increased foreign policy, security, economic and educational ties between the UK and Cyprus. It will also support joint cooperation on urgent global challenges such as climate change and Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Speaking after the signing ceremony and referring to the meeting he had earlier with his host, Kasoulides said he was “very pleased today to have this meeting with Secretary Cleverly.”
“We had the opportunity to discuss a whole spectrum of relations between Cyprus and the UK, a spectrum that covers the efforts to reunite our country and the support we expect from the UK,” he noted.
The other aspect, Kasoulides added, “is our strategic position in the Eastern Mediterranean, where we apply a regional policy that is very important. There is room for cooperation there with the UK since there British bases are present there.”
On his part, Cleverly said “it is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to sign this Memorandum of Understanding.”
“The UK and Cyprus have a close and long-standing bilateral relationship and today we were able to discuss the strength of our ties on government to government level but also on people to people level,” he added.
He noted that “I am very grateful that this signing of the MoU also gave me the opportunity to have this conversation with you and to recommit to the strong bilateral relationship between our two countries and our two peoples.”
Among other things, the agreement will boost research collaboration between the two countries’ universities and will increase opportunities for trade in professional services, shipping and green growth.
To ensure implementation of the agreement, the UK and the Republic of Cyprus will hold regular consultations to assess progress, exchange information and propose new areas for joint cooperation.
Afterwards Foreign Minister Kasoulides attended a lunch hosted by Lord Ahmad, UK Minister of State for the United Nations.
Source: Cyprus News Agency