Cyprus and France are expected to sign on Monday, in Nicosia, a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
According to CNA sources, the Cypriot and French Defence Ministers, Minister of Defence, Vasilis Palmas, and his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin, will sign the agreement during a bilateral meeting on Monday afternoon at the Filoxenia Conference Centre, following the conclusion of the informal Foreign Affairs Council (Defence), which will be hosted in Nicosia as part of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, had announced during French President Emmanuel Macron’s official visit to Nicosia in April that a SOFA agreement would be signed in June. He said that the agreement concerns hosting French forces on Cypriot territory for the purposes of humanitarian operations in the region.