“Whatever the election result is in Greece, it will be completely respected. A key issue for us, but in my opinion also for Greece, is for there to be stability in the country. Stability is particularly important, so that we can face the common challenges that exist, whatever the government is in Greece”, said the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulidis.

As Mr. Christodoulidis pointed out, the relationship between Cyprus and Greece is strengthened every day, both on a political and a technocratic level, regardless of the current composition of the cabinet, either in one country or in the other.

President Christodoulidis today gave a press conference on the occasion of the first 100 days of his government, where he developed everything that has been achieved, as well as the goals of his government in Health, Education, Economy, Immigration, the everyday life of citizens, as well as a series of internal issues .

In response to a question from ERT and the Athens News Agency regarding Cyprus-Greece cooperation on a variety of issues, the importance of Greece’s role in the Cyprus issue, but also what he expects from the outcome of the upcoming elections in Greece, as well as from the upcoming NATO meeting in Lithuania, given the statements of the representative of Turkey, Omer Celik, on the Cyprus issue, Mr. Christodoulidis noted:

“We believe that any improvement in Greek-Turkish relations that we have seen develop after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and we hope will continue, will also work helpfully in our own effort.

We expect to see the results of the elections in Greece and I hope that there will be a meeting between the Greek Prime Minister, whoever the Greek people choose, and the Turkish President at the NATO Summit in Lithuania.

I am sure that tthe Cypriot will be one of the issues that will be discussed.

Our relationship with Greece is strengthened every day. Even today, however, with the caretaker government, there is cordial cooperation. Beyond political relations and at a technocratic level, e.g. in the issue concerning the EU and on the occasion of the upcoming European Council Meeting, there is constant contact and coordination as to how we can achieve the goals we have set”.

Regarding the Cyprus issue, Mr. Christodoulidis reiterated that the highest priority for the government is the breaking of the impasse in the Cyprus issue and the resumption of substantive negotiations under the auspices of the UN, from where they left off in Crans Montana, taking into account, as he said, “also the my strong belief that the current state of affairs cannot be the solution to the Cyprus problem. Within this very context, we immediately took the initiative of the movements, starting on the basis of a specific plan and strategy, a huge diplomatic initiative, with the aim of more active involvement of the EU in the Cyprus issue, through the appointment of a strong political personality, with the sole aim of resume conversations. Our aim, through the more active involvement of the EU, is to strengthen the effort made by the UN Secretary General. The aim is to highlight a mutually beneficial state of affairs for all involved, through a possible progress of the Euro-Turkish issues after the resumption of talks on the Cyprus issue, based on the agreed framework. In this direction, important contacts were made, both at my own level and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with Europeans and leaders of third countries, highlighting our will and readiness as well as the need for relative mobility on the part of the international community. At the same time, in our foreign policy, we worked methodically in the direction of strengthening the extroversion and presence of the Republic of Cyprus in all important international forums and decision-making centers, so that our country participates actively and constructively in current regional and international issues, aiming in this way to achieve mutually beneficial synergies. The already 29 bilateral visits and contacts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the European and international level, as well as the organization in Nicosia, last March, of the tripartite meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Israel, are indicative of the magnitude of the effort being made”.

Referring to the Energy sector, since the first day, he said that initiatives have been taken to achieve the goal of meeting the needs of the internal electricity market with natural gas and reducing the price of electricity for consumers, through a series of targeted actions.

“Within this context, it was agreed to start consultation with Israel, during my visit there. Then, during the visit of the competent Minister, it was decided to set up two technical committees to discuss the issues of the electrical interconnection of the two countries and the natural gas/hydrogen interconnection.

It was preceded at the end of May by the holding of the workshop, entitled “The Cyprus Gateway: Natural Gas to Power and Liquefaction”, where the prospect of transporting natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Cyprus, with a pipeline for power generation and, possibly, export in the form of LNG, was presented ».