Israel, Cyprus to Boost Regional Cooperation
by JNS.org
JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in Jerusalem on Sunday where the two leaders discussed a wide array of regional concerns such as terrorism and energy interests.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, during their meeting Netanyahu and Anastasiades spoke about the need for regional stability, including countering extremism and terrorism. Additionally, the two leaders discussed emergency response cooperation and the utilization of the Aphrodite and Ishai offshore gas fields.
“Cyprus and Israel are two small democracies in the eastern Mediterranean. We also share common challenges, and also common opportunities: in security cooperation, in gas, in emergency cooperation, commerce, tourism — many, many fields,” Netanyahu said in a press conference following the meeting.
In his remarks, Anastasiades praised his strong working relationship with Netanyahu, saying he was “looking forward” to discussions in “how to enhance our bilateral relations in the fields of energy, security, economy and trade, to exchange views on the regional developments, to brief [Netanyahu] on the negotiations about the Cyprus problem, and of course to prepare for the next trilateral meeting later this year with our Greek colleague here in Jerusalem, in order to continue the work which we started in Nicosia last January.”