PRESIDENT Christofias’ visit to Israel was declared a success, even though it failed to produce anything tangible. Perhaps it is too soon to reach any conclusion and only time will show whether the ground was prepared during the visit, for a closer co-operation between the two countries.
The President described Israel as one of Cyprus’ “most important strategic partners”, but did not explain what shape this strategic partnership had taken. Was this just a way of pandering to Cyprus’ political parties which had been calling for the forging of a strategic partnership with Israel, now that its relations with Turkey had soured?
Four agreements were signed during his visit – co-operation between stock exchanges, postal services and two academic institutions as well as protocol for consultations between foreign ministries – but these were not the types of agreements that suggested the development of strategic partnerships. Five agreements were also signed with the Palestinian National Authority, during the president’s visit to Ramallah, but there was no talk of a strategic partnership.
On the issue of energy, Christofias appears to have been non-committal despite the eagerness of Israelis to put something on paper. President Shimon Peres spoke of tremendous scope for co-operation, as “there is a treasure to develop – natural gas”. Christofias said he believed the signing of the agreement on the exclusive economic zones would “lead to co-operation between the two countries in the field of energy.”
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the two sides discussed “establishing a working group to examine the possibility of transferring the gas from ‘Leviathan’ to Cyprus and from there to markets in Europe”. However, the Cyprus government pointed out that nothing specific had been agreed on energy, perhaps because it was keeping its options open.
Would it be correct for Cyprus to enter an agreement for liquefying Israeli natural gas on the island and then exporting it, given the possibility that it could have its own natural gas? What would Cyprus do with its own natural gas, in the event that drilling by Noble Energy, with which contracts have been signed, was successful? In a sense it is sensible for the government to wait until all available options were clearer, rather than to rush into an agreement which it might regret, a year down the line.
Then again, the so-called ‘strategic partnership’ with Israel, demanded by political parties, is unlikely to materialise if there is no deal on natural gas which is the main priority of Tel Aviv.
