NICOSIA – With the first direct flight of Air Astana from Larnaca International Airport, President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides departed at 2 PM on June 2 for the capital of Kazakhstan on the first trip of the President of Cyprus to the largest country in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
President Christodoulides received an official welcome in the evening and the agenda for the contacts on Wednesday includes a meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, the signing of Memoranda of Understanding in the fields of Higher Education, Research, Culture, Sports, Information and Communication Technologies, Cybersecurity and e-Government.
A Memorandum of Understanding will also be signed between the Cyprus-Kazakhstan Chambers of Commerce. President Christodoulides will also inaugurate the offices of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Astana.
The mission includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantinos Kompos, the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry Michalis Damianos, the Deputy Minister to the President Irini Piki, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nikodimos Damianos, the Deputy Government Spokesperson Yiannis Antoniou and a trade delegation.
As Yiannis Antoniou stated, the focus of the contacts will be political contacts with the country’s leadership, the strengthening of economic relations, and the exploitation of new opportunities for cooperation in the sectors of trade, investment, tourism and services.
The government, he added, believes that the presence of Cypriot businesses can open new prospects in a region of increased geopolitical interest.
Responding to a question, he said that the visit of the President of the Republic to Astana is not especially linked to Kazakhstan’s relations with Turkey, but is part of the general policy of the Republic of Cyprus to strengthen bilateral relations with Central Asian countries.
He added, however, that Nicosia is closely monitoring Turkish efforts to upgrade the pseudo-state on illegally -occupied Cyprus and is taking advantage of every diplomatic opportunity to promote the positions of the Republic of Cyprus and strengthen its international presence in areas of particular geopolitical interest.