New york: Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos is set to have a full programme of meetings next week during his stay in New York on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly.

According to Cyprus News Agency, 35 bilateral meetings with his counterparts from UN member states have been confirmed so far. Kombos will also participate in at least five meetings alongside the President of the Republic, with the programme still being finalized.

Meetings have been scheduled with countries from various regions, including African nations such as Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Botswana, Senegal, Rwanda, Mauritania, and Tanzania. In the Middle East, encounters are planned with Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Lebanon. Central Asian countries on the agenda include Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, with additional meetings in Asia involving India, the Philippines, and the Maldives.

These meetings are part of strategic geographical planning, taking into account the membership of several countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Turkic-speaking countries of Central Asia.

Following a Cypriot initiative, a high-level meeting of small European states will be co-organized with Andorra at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the UN. This includes Cyprus, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Monaco, and San Marino, with discussions also encompassing the Council of Europe dimension and issues relating to property and missing persons.

Two trilateral meetings are planned with Egypt and Jordan, with the Foreign Minister also participating in multilateral meetings. These include the informal EU Foreign Affairs Council with guests from Asian countries and a ministerial discussion on the Middle East chaired by the Qatari Foreign Minister and the EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas. Additional topics will cover the two-state solution and rising sea levels, as well as an informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers with their counterparts from CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States).

Contacts have been made with two candidates to succeed Ant³nio Guterres as UN Secretary-General. The first contact occurred during last year's UN General Assembly, while a recent meeting involved a government minister and the second candidate. Further contacts may occur with these candidates or others as part of a social gathering in New York.