The leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt are meeting in Nicosia on Wednesday with the agenda including economic relations in shipping, tourism and energy.
The meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades, the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras and the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is expected to conclude with the Nicosia Declaration that will outline the guidelines for competent ministers of the three countries as regards the implementation of the issues agreed.
Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said that the tripartite meeting is particularly important, noting that Cyprus shares common concerns with Egypt and Greece.
The President of Egypt will be accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Energy, Investments and the Government Spokesman. The Greek Prime Minister will be accompanied by the Foreign Minister. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Energy and Finance of Cyprus will also attend the tripartite meeting.
Sisi and Tsipras will be welcomed during an official ceremony at the Presidential Palace.
The agenda of the meetings includes regional issues, the Cyprus problem, terrorism, developments in Yemen, the situation in Syria, Iraq and Libya and the Middle East issue.
As regards the issues of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the meeting will be a follow up of the meeting in Cairo, which called for the Cyprus exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to be respected and for the end of Turkey’s seismic research within it.
With regard to the delineation of the EEZ of Greece and Egypt, Christodoulides referred to the bilateral meeting that will take place between the two countries.
As regards the participation of Israel in this discussion, Christodoulides said that President Anastasiades is expected to visit Jerusalem after a government is formed to meet with the Prime Minister and after that a tripartite meeting between Greece, Cyprus and Israel is expected to take place.
As regards energy issues, Christodoulides recalled that a dialogue is under way on these issues with Egypt.
The commercialisation of the natural gas and ways of channelling it from the “Aphrodite” gasfield are being discussed at a bilateral level, as Egypt has a keen interest in Cypriot natural gas.
Moreover government sources have described as a positive development the purchase of British Gas, which operates in Egypt, by Shell.
