The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Constantinos Kombos, participated in the Ministerial Meeting of the International Coalition against Daesh/ISIS, held on Thursday 8 June in Riyadh.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry, the meeting was co-organized by the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the US Secretary of State, focusing on coordinating international efforts to combat terrorism.
As stated, the Foreign Minister underlined, inter alia, in his intervention that the Republic of Cyprus remains firmly committed to global and regional efforts to prevent and counter all forms of radicalisation and violent extremism.
Cyprus, he noted, has repeatedly offered and provided its infrastructure to Coalition members to conduct operations against Daesh, adding that the country is ready to explore further possible avenues of cooperation with all partners in support of stabilization efforts and specific development programmes linked to addressing the problems caused by ISIS/Daesh actions.
In this context, he also expressed Cyprus' readiness to offer to all partners the training opportunities provided by the Cyprus Center for Land Open-seas and Port Security (CYCLOPS), recently established in cooperation with the US Government.
It is added that the Foreign Minister made specific reference to the aspect of financing terrorist activities through the illicit trafficking and sale of cultural goods, underlining that the "Nicosia Convention on Offences Related to Cultural Property" - signed during the Cyprus Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2017 - is the only international treaty that specifically addresses the criminalization of illicit trafficking of cultural goods, and encouraged all coalition partners to participate in this important convention.
On the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting, Dr. Kombos had separate bilateral contacts with the Foreign Ministers of Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Iraq and the Republic of North Macedonia, while also holding a bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia's Minister of State Adel Al-Jubeir, with whom they exchanged views on bilateral and important regional issues, on which Saudi Arabia's contribution is crucial, the statement concluded.
Source: Cyprus News Agency