The President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides held a meeting today (10/1) with the newly elected President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, in Beirut, just hours after his election.

The meeting was the first between the Lebanese president and a leader of another state which of course has symbolic and of substantive significance.

For President Christodoulides, it is a continuation of the contacts he has held in recent days with leaders of states in the region. Yesterday, Thursday, he met with the President of Israel and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, while the day before yesterday, Wednesday, he was in Cairo and had a meeting with the President of Egypt in the framework of the trilateral meeting in which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis participated.

Addressing the Lebanese president, Nikos Christodoulides said that Cyprus is geographically the closest neighbour.

He congratulated Joseph Aoun on his election to the presidency, saying that he is there to work together so that Cyprus and the EU support the country.

“Before the visit I spoke with President Macron and the President of the Commission. We want to define steps for EU support as soon as possible,” he said to add: “We want to reach a strategic and comprehensive agreement on this as soon as possible.”

At the same time, when conditions allow, President Christodoulides said, “I invite you to Brussels to the European Council, I will organise meetings with the 27 leaders and the President of the Commission to present your vision for the country and on January 1, 2026, when Cyprus takes over the presidency, we will do something specifically for Lebanon.”

“You can count on us, we are brothers,” President Christodoulides said among other things.

In addition, during the meeting, issues concerning bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, security, trade and shipping were discussed, while emphasis was placed on the common challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean and the need to effectively address them, with coordination of actions, both at bilateral level and through the mechanism of trilateral meetings and regional cooperation.

President Christodoulides expressed Cyprus’ firm support to Lebanon’s efforts to strengthen the country’s stability and economic recovery, while the Lebanese President expressed gratitude for the continued support of the Republic of Cyprus. At the same time, he noted his willingness to further strengthen cooperation at all levels, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by Cyprus’ participation in the European Union.

The two leaders agreed to keep open their communication channel and to proceed with concrete actions that will further strengthen the strategic relations between Cyprus and Lebanon and the European Union, consolidating the sense of security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.