Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has been hosted at the Foreign Office by the UK Minister for Europe Graham Stuart, becoming the first foreign official to meet with the recently appointed UK minister.
“We discussed the bilateral relations and we ascertained that they currently are at a very good level. We talked about the upcoming Security Council resolution regarding Cyprus, as Britain is the so-called ‘penholder’, the country preparing the first draft and we had a useful exchange. We also talked about Europe in general, about the UK outside the EU and about various other issues,” the Cypriot Foreign Minister told the Cyprus News Agency following his meeting with Mr Stuart on Thursday afternoon.
The two Ministers had their first encounter on Wednesday evening, during an event on Cyprus organised at the Houses of Parliament by the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cyprus.
Kasoulides noted that it was a privilege for him to be the first Foreign Minister to meet the new Minister for Europe and for the UK Cypriots to have Mr Stuart at their event on what was his first public engagement in his new role.
Referring to Wednesday’s gathering, he hailed it as “very successful”, noting the presence of around 20 British MPs and peers. “We had the opportunity to discuss the Cyprus issue, the new situation in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the developments in our region and mainly the bilateral ties between Cyprus and Britain,” said Kasoulides.
Prior to his visit to the Foreign Office, the Cypriot Foreign Minister was received by the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who only recently became the first UK Speaker to officially visit Cyprus.
SOURCE: CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY