Nicosia: A Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the Republic of Cyprus and France will be signed on Monday in Nicosia by the Minister of Defence, Vasilis Palmas, and his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) has learnt.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Cypriot and French Defence Ministers will sign the agreement during a bilateral meeting on Monday afternoon at the Filoxenia Conference Centre. This event will follow the conclusion of the informal Foreign Affairs Council (Defence), hosted in Nicosia as part of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, had announced during French President Emmanuel Macron's official visit to Nicosia in April that a SOFA agreement would be signed in June. He stated that the agreement concerns hosting French forces on Cypriot territory for the purposes of humanitarian operations in the region.