Cyprus and Norway will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on energy issues to provide for the exchange of expertise and sovereign fund management.
The MoU under discussion contains specific areas such as LNG bunkering, LNG legislation, cross border interconnection for natural gas and electricity.
Other provisions include Renewable Energy Sources and sovereign fund management.
The MoU will be signed at the Ministerial level once the relevant preparatory work is completed.
According to diplomatic sources, Oslo recently discouraged a Norwegian energy company form entering into cooperation with TPAO, the Turkish state Petroleum Corporation.
After it was approached by TPAO to cooperate with drilling issues, the Norwegian company contacted Norway’s Foreign Ministry, which was negative to the prospect of the two companies cooperating.
Oslo views Cyprus as an “extremely important partner” in the region, due to its bridging role between Europe and the Near East, said Norway Foreign Ine Soreide.
Soreide, on a visit to Nicosia, met on Friday with her Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides and discussed Turkey’s illegal activities in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
“These illegal actions by Turkey are regrettably also detrimental to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to create an environment that is conducive to the resumption of (Cyprus) negotiations,” said Christodoulides.
They also discussed developments in Syria and Libya, the Middle East Peace Process, as well as human rights issues, energy and tourism.
Christodoulides visited Oslo last November and today’s meeting at the Foreign Ministry was the third time the two Ministers met in the past six months.
Soreide said that with her Cypriot counterpart they increased the scope of their bilateral cooperation, along with their cooperation through the EU and multilaterally.
“I also want to commend you for presenting your first draft national action plan on women peace and security.”
Soreide said this is “a milestone” and an area where Norway wants to engage closely with Nicosia.
Norway and Cyprus have a close bilateral relationship also through the EEA and Norway grants worth €11.5 mln for the current program period. (source CNA)
