Minister of Defence Charalambos Petrides expressed the readiness of the Republic of Cyprus to facilitate friends and allies in dealing with crisis situations, while providing safe shelter to civilians, as he welcomed the final phase of the multinational exercise “Argonaut”, held at the “Zenon” Search and Rescue Coordination Centre in Larnaca.
This year, he said, “we have 15 countries from the NEO Coordination Group that participated in the NEO phase of the Exercise, 8 countries that are taking part in the Search and Rescue phase, as well as the EU’s External Action Service and the UN. For the first time Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participate in this year’s exercise with military means and a high-level observers’ delegation respectively”, adding that the exercise contributes immensely to the country’s preparedness and readiness to deal with severe crisis incidents and emergency situations within the area of the Eastern Mediterranean, with the implementation of the national plans “ESTIA” and “TEFKROS”.
Defence Minister also stressed that the Republic of Cyprus is willing and ready to assume this responsibility to secure the interests of our close partners and for the benefit of the international community. “Our infrastructures and facilities will always be at the disposal of our partners for providing assistance for humanitarian and crisis situations”, he noted.
The Chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Demokritos Zervakis, said that Exercise Argonaut is a multidimensional humanitarian exercise, whereas at the national Level it is dealing with the mass reception of evacuees from a crisis area in our neighborhood and internationally.
“We cooperate alongside with all our partners, with whom we form together the informal group of Non-Combatant evacuation operations, for a safe and timely evacuation of their citizens to a safe haven, the Republic of Cyprus”, he said.
He explained that, due to the complexity of the exercise, the planning teams put in six months of work for its preparation. He said that the vast majority of the procedures tested these days “dictated the smooth and effective cooperation of militaries and civilians” and mentioned that he noticed with great satisfaction that this cooperation was achieved as planned.”
The Commander of Joint Rescue Coordination Center, Lieutenant Commander Andreas Charalambides, presented the scenario of the exercise, “a naval accident within Cyprus SRR, which occurred during the evacuation operations from a crisis area towards a safe heaven, the Republic of Cyprus”. He added that the mass rescue operation procedures are defined in National Plan “TEFKROS” and are implemented and tested through the exercise.
Charalambides welcomed guest observers and expressed his gratitude to “all national and international officials and officers that participated, from the planning stage to the execution, in such a complicated exercise”, adding that 35 aeronautical assets and more than 700 personnel from 8 countries “will work together with a common mission to help in every possible way human lives in danger.”
Source: Cyprus News Agency