Cyprus and France are moving towards the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, with both sides expressing their intention to finalise the document ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Cyprus.
President Nikos Christodoulides, welcoming France’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad at the Presidential Palace on Monday, said the partnership is a very important political, economic, and cultural document that they want to finalise as soon as possible and to receive in Cyprus Emmanuel Macron to sign the document.
The Cypriot President outlined five key issues on the agenda for discussion, beginning with coordination ahead of Cyprus’ upcoming EU presidency.
‘France is one of the member states that we see eye to eye in most of the issues of our European agenda. So it’s important to coordinate ahead of our presidency,’ he said.
He added that the two sides would also discuss regional developments, particularly in countries of shared interest such as Lebanon, as well as the Cyprus problem.
‘It’s important to synchronise our actions, especially in relation to countries of the region that have great interest for France, for example, Lebanon, the closest country to Cyprus,’ President Christodoulides said. He also referred to Cyprus’ efforts to fully join Schengen by 2026, noting that the country is working on the technical aspects with the goal of completing them by the end of the year.
For his part, Benjamin Haddad expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved between the two sides. He said he had an excellent relationship with Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna and that they work closely on all these issues.
Referring to the upcoming agreement, Haddad noted their aim is to finalise is as soon as possible.
‘I think we’re very close. We really sent our last amended version. There’s a few details that we can discuss, but my sense is that going back and forth between our two teams, we’ll be able to finalise the next month in November in Brussels before President Macron comes here to officially sign it,’ he said.
Haddad described the agreement as a great way to enhance cooperation on economic issues, on strategic energy issues, and especially in a lot of defence issues where they can use the different European instruments to deepen their partnership.