Netanyahu and Christodoulides discuss regional developments

Foreign minister Nicos Christodoulides on Thursday held talks in Jerusalem with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They discussed regional developments and the strengthening of bilateral ties in energy and emergency situations.

According to the Israeli PM’s twitter feed, the meeting was held ahead of the fourth trilateral summit of the leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus. The next trilateral is to be held in Nicosia in May.

According to the Cyprus foreign ministry, Christodoulides also briefed Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials on the recent Turkish actions in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.

During his contacts, Christodoulides said Ankara’s conduct was aimed at creating obstacles to plans for broader energy cooperation among countries in the eastern Mediterranean.

On energy, the two sides discussed the proposed EastMed pipeline, seen as a project of strategic cooperation between the neighbouring nations.

The Israeli foreign ministry put out a tweet stating: “We respect the rights of Cyprus in its various maritime zones and believe that the signing of our bilateral agreement with Cyprus on the delimitation of the EEZ already in the year 2010 speaks for itself.”

During his official visit to Israel, Christodoulides was also received by the country’s president Reuven Rivlin.

Christodoulides returns to Cyprus on Friday.

 

 

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.