Cyprus reinforces diplomatic presence

Cyprus’ diplomatic network abroad is being upgraded with the reopening and opening of four embassies in 2023.

Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis, said Cyprus’ High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, reopened in February.

Nairobi is the seat of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN central regional office in Africa.

Moreover, the Orthodox Church of Kenya has its seat in Nairobi under the Cypriot Archbishop of Nairobi and Exarch of All Kenya Makarios Tillyrides.

The Makarios Orphanage in Nyeri comes under his patronage.

The Republic of Cyprus has signed an MoU with the Sophia for Children Foundation for the financial support of the orphanage.

Also, the Cypriot embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, will reopen this year.

Indonesia is the biggest Islamic country in population that plays an important role in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

A procedure is underway for opening embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Manama, Bahrain – the only country in the Arab Gulf where Cyprus has no diplomatic mission.

Gotsis said the aim of opening a diplomatic mission in Argentina is for Cyprus to have a stronger presence in South America.

He said having more diplomatic missions of the Republic of Cyprus abroad resulted from the successful cooperation to solve a long-standing staffing issue, as 50 new posts were approved for 2021-2025.

“In this way, it is expected that the number of diplomats will be restored to the levels that we had before the economic crisis, and the diplomatic service will be significantly upgraded to be a modern European diplomatic service,” said Gotsis.