At a critical juncture, with a host of international developments, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be in Cyprus today for the meeting of the Greece-Cyprus Intergovernmental Summit – the premiere of which took place last November in Athens – as well as for the Greece-Cyprus-Jordan Trilateral Summit.
Given the announcements by Israel of a “ceasefire” on the Lebanese front, and amid escalating concern over the developing war front in Ukraine, Mitsotakis will discuss all developments with Nikos Christodoulides.
It will be another signal of solidarity between the two leaders, who have a warm personal relationship and an open line of communication after former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ nails for “cozying up” to Tayyip Erdogan and Edi Rama. Notably, those comments had also annoyed Cyprus, in addition to Athens.
Government sources said the second annual Intergovernmental Summit marks the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries, as well as its deepening and broadening in a number of areas beyond foreign policy.
Defense, energy, environment, health, education, culture, digital policy, research-innovation-technology, labor and social security, rule of law, justice, economy, social policy, and shipping are the areas of cooperation that will be discussed by the competent ministers of Greece and Cyprus.
Participating in the second Greek-Cypriot Intergovernmental Conference from the Greek side are the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetritis, Education Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou, Social Cohesion and Family Sofia Zacharaki, Culture Lina Mendoni, Maritime and Island Policy Christos Stylianides, State Akis Skertos, and the Deputy Ministers of Defence Giannis Kefalogiannis, Environment and Energy Alexandra Sduku, Health Marios Themistokleous, Development Zoe Rapti, Labour Panos Tsakloglu and Justice Yannis Bougas.
Party
The Summit, which will be chaired by the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic of Cyprus, is also expected to discuss developments in the Cyprus issue, following the mobility at the level of the UN Secretary-General and the informal dinner between Mr. Christodoulides and Tatar under the UN Secretary-General last October in New York.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis will reiterate that for Greece a solution to the Cyprus problem can only be based on the framework of the UN and the resolutions of the Security Council. It remains to be seen whether a five-party meeting will follow in the next period, with the participation of Greece-Turkey-UK, presumably in the New Year.
Cyprus in NATO
At the same time, the Cypriot request for membership of NATO, the plan for which was presented to US President Joe Biden weeks ago by Nikos Christodoulides, enters the equation. Christodoulides is aware that the plan is forward-looking and will provoke strong reactions from Turkey, but he has Greek support.
At this time, moreover, Cyprus-US relations are at one of their best historical points, with Washington having “liberalized” the export of military hardware to the Greater Isle, and it remains to be seen whether this status will be made permanent. Notably, only yesterday Mitsotakis received in Athens the Alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Middle East
This will be followed, after the conclusion of the second Greece-Cyprus Intergovernmental Conference, by the Greece-Cyprus-Jordan Trilateral Summit at a critical juncture for developments in the Middle East. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Nikos Christodoulides and King Abdullah of Jordan are expected to send a message on the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and the importance of trilateral cooperation for stability in the wider region. It is recalled that King Abdullah of Jordan also participated in the MED9 Summit last October in Paphos.
