By Thanasis Gavou

The foreign ministers of Cyprus and the United Kingdom have a working breakfast in London, in the third high-level meeting between the two countries in the last two months, after the two meetings of the President of the Republic with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

After the meeting of Mr. Constantinos Kobous and David Lamy will be followed by the second overview of the Strategic Dialogue of the two countries by expanded delegations.

The two Ministers discuss issues of bilateral cooperation, the Cypriot and developments in Middle East.

In his short statements during the reception at the official residence of the British Minister. of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lammy spoke of one “wonderful and warm” bilateral relationship. He added that he has known Cyprus all his life through the many expatriates who have made their home in north London, which he also represents in the House of Commons.

Express her “huge gratitude” of the British Government to Cyprus for the help it has offered to the world community during the crisis in the Middle East, for the way it has supported the people of Ukraine for the way it continues to fight money laundering .

Dr. Kobos, for his part, pointed out that the meeting is taking place after two meetings of the leaders of the two countries in a period of 60 days, which was also mentioned by Mr. Lami. “There is a clear political direction,” said the Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs, adding that with his interlocutor they have undertaken to turn intentions into actions and results towards the deepening of bilateral relations.

He spoke of a very solid foundation in bilateral relations arising from historical ties, the multi-layered nature of these ties and the “crucial’ role of the homogeneity.

He also spoke of one strategic upgrade vision, reinforcement and adjusting the relations of the two countries in order to implement the political direction that has been set. He concluded by talking about a very important agenda during today’s talks.

The two enlarged delegations that will conduct the dialogue will be led respectively by the Director General of the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Andreas S. Kakouris) and the Director General for Europe at the Foreign Office (Dame Deborah Bronnert).

The bilateral Strategic Dialogue was launched this time last year in Nicosia and has been established by the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2022 in London by the then Foreign Ministers Ioannis Kasoulidis and James Cleverly.

The purpose of today’s dialogue is the overview of its deepening bilateral cooperation last year in the areas under consideration, as well as the update of actions based on the guidelines given by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs as well as the leaders of the two countries.

The individual areas of bilateral cooperation that the Strategic Dialogue examines it is: foreign policy – defense and security – trade and prosperity – education, culture, science and innovation – maritime affairs – tackling climate change – law enforcement and tackling serious organized crime and of terrorism – legal cooperation – consular services.

In the evening Mr. Kombos will meet with officials of the diaspora to inform them mainly about the progress of the efforts to restart the negotiations on the Cyprus issue, while he will also grant an interview to the British television network Sky News.