Cyprus is a very important member and strong supporter of the European Defence Agency, the Agency’s Chief Executive, Andre Denk said Thursday after a meeting in Nicosia with Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas, noting that, together with the Defence Ministry they were preparing a high-level conference on defence in Cyprus.
Palmas stressed the importance of a mutually beneficial and productive cooperation within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU for the benefit of common European defence and security.
In his statements after the meeting at the Ministry of Defence, Palmas said that the European Defence Agency ‘is an important organisation and an excellent partner for both the Republic of Cyprus and the EU itself in the field of defence capability development and in the framework of defence initiatives promoted by the EU’.
The Republic of Cyprus, he said, ‘succeeded in being an active and reliable partner’ within the framework of the Agency’s programmes and through cooperation between the Defence Ministry and the European Defence Agency at a high level.
He noted that with Major General Denk they had the opportunity to discuss and exchange views on matters of mutual interest, and more specifically on issues concerning the support of the EDA in view of the defence initiatives, the new actions undertaken by the Ministry of Defense, Cyprus’ cooperation in the SAFE mechanism, as well as issues concerning the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026.
‘The Republic of Cyprus supports the perspective of deepening cooperation on issues of common defence and security policy and the strengthening of European Strategic Autonomy’, said the Minister.
‘In addition to our participation in programmes of the European Defence Agency, we are making efforts to expand our cooperation both with the EU member states and with third states, such as the United States of America’, he added.
He noted that the role of the European Defence Agency ‘is also very important in terms of the development of joint defence programmes, research and innovation’.
The Ministry of Defence, he said, supports the research and innovation and defence industry ecosystem and promotes the partnership of the public sector with the private and academic sectors for participation in EU research programmes.
In conclusion, he pointed out the importance of a mutually beneficial and productive cooperation within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU ‘for the benefit of common European security and defence’.
Denk, in his statements, said that ‘Cyprus is a very important member and strong supporter of the European Defence Agency’.
‘Since my appointment as chief executive of the European Defence Agency, I was very much looking forward to visiting Cyprus’, he added.
‘As you know, the European Defence Agency enables intergovernmental defence cooperation at EU level. We bring together the 27 ministries of defence. We are your Agency. And we represent Cyprus’ voice in Brussels in the field of defence, and we take your national priorities fully into account when initiating new projects, when agreeing upon priorities’, Denk said.
He added that he was ‘very much looking forward, together with my team, to working even more closely with you, specifically in view of the upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union’. He also said that they were preparing a high-level conference on defence in Cyprus ‘that I’m looking forward to attend and to support you’.