Foreign Minister completes visit to Israel

FOREIGN Minister, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, will be back in Cyprus today after a two-day visit to Israel to discuss issues of shared concern including that of energy collaboration.

Marcoullis held meetings with Israeli President Shimon Perez, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and her Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman.

They discussed, among others, their countries’ energy policies in light of the recent Turkish threats over Cyprus’ offshore hydrocarbon exploration plans.

“On the part of Israel, there is complete understanding about Cyprus’ positions,” Marcoullis said yesterday.

Drilling by Noble Energy is expected to start by October in Block 12 which lies within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

Turkey has opposed the move claiming that drilling goes against the rights of Turkish Cypriots and might jeopardise peace talks.

Marcoullis has said that they would be proceeding normally with gas exploration and denied the possibility that drilling would be put on hold.

Marcoullis placed her visit to Israel in the context of a number of meetings by officials of both countries, including President Demetris Christofias’ visit in March.

The Israeli President should be visiting Cyprus in the autumn, Marcoullis added.

“A large number of agreements between the two countries have been signed and there are several others in very important sectors that are currently been negotiated,” Marcoullis said.

She added that these included the economy and renewable energy sources.

Marcoullis said she was “completely satisfied” by her visit.

Meanwhile, Israel-based Delek Energy has proposed a partnership with Cyprus to build a facility for processing and exporting natural gas from Israel’s Leviathan gas prospect.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.