Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Constantinos Kombos, after his meeting with the Federal Minister of European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Ms Beate Meinl-Reisinger

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27/06/25 17:01 | Press release | Foreign Policy, European affairs, Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026

First of all, let me welcome you Minister, dear Beata, to Cyprus. It is a real pleasure to have you and your delegation here.

I am going to start in a bit of an unorthodox way with the conclusion, which is that we have an excellent bilateral relation. We are like-minded countries, and the bond of this friendship is extremely strong. We have a long history of friendly relations. And I also believe we have a very bright future and a very open horizon in front of us.

Today, we discussed a number of issues. The agenda included, of course, bilateral and also regional topics.

At the bilateral level, we agreed that we have made considerable progress. Trade is up by 14%. Tourism is up, we have foreign direct investment (FDI), both ways investment, exceeding 1 billion. But we also believe there is room for plenty, plenty more that we could be doing. And we should be working in that direction in the fields of education, culture, and also in relation to migration and defence. These are areas that are of considerable interest to both countries, and we see that there is plenty of space that we could be collaborating more.

I also had the opportunity to brief the Minister and the delegation as to the preparations for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) that Cyprus will be taking over from January 2026, and what our priorities are in terms of concluding certain files that we will be inheriting, but also leaving our mark in terms of shifting a bit the focus of the Union towards the region. And with everything that has been happening in the region, I believe that we are in a good position to showcase that Cyprus could be acting as a bridge between the Union and the wider Middle East. This makes a lot of sense in terms of crisis management, in terms of crisis prevention, in terms of migration, but also in terms of free trade agreements and arrangements, and also connectivity projects.

I also briefed the Minister about the recent developments as regards the Cyprus issue and, of course, on that, we start by extending our appreciation to Austria for all the support they have handed out to Cyprus through their participation in the UNFICYP force. Sixteen Austrians lost their lives while serving in Cyprus, and for that, we are always extremely grateful and appreciative for their contribution, as well as for the principled stand of Austria as regards the solution of the Cyprus issue, always and exclusively within the context of the bizonal bicommunal federation, with political equality as prescribed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions.

We also discussed about regional issues, starting with the situation in Gaza. We agree about the need for an immediate ceasefire, about the release of the hostages, and also about the exclusion of Hamas from the political future of Gaza. And it is also important that we keep the horizon open at the political level for the two-state solution. We agree that the humanitarian situation is unbearable and unacceptable, and that we should be taking all the necessary steps to make sure that we improve this situation as soon as possible. And this is where the EU and all the member states should be more active in terms of engaging in a constructive dialogue that is results-driven in terms of quantities of aid going into Gaza.

Brief note about Syria: Cyprus has expressed its very strong condemnation in relation to the terrorist attack that took place the last few days in the Greek Orthodox Church. This is unacceptable and it demands from the Syrian authorities to take all of those corrective measures in terms of ensuring accountability, and also ensuring the effective protection of all Christians, of all Syrians in their own country.

In relation now to the Iran-Israeli conflict, we are all encouraged by the ceasefire and the de-escalation, and we are supportive of making sure that it works and that it is being protected. There is a lot of negotiation that needs to take place on a number of issues and files related to the conflict, and once again, this is where we encourage the EU, as part of the E3+1, to play its role and make sure that this role is being projected publicly, as well. The EU is not absent from this discussion; it is there. We need to make a much better job in explaining what actually the EU has been doing.

Final point, in relation to the handling of the crisis as it has erupted in terms of evacuations, the Republic of Cyprus has once again been in the position of having to act as a safe harbour for evacuating EU citizens from the region. In total, we had more than 3,000 individuals being evacuated through Cyprus, but I want to make a special reference to the evacuation of Cypriot citizens from Israel and Iran. Fifty-three individuals have been evacuated in what has been an extremely difficult set of circumstances. And for that we are grateful to countries which have assisted us, Austria being one of those countries, the Slovaks, and others, in what has been an extremely dangerous situation for our citizens. This has been a big part of our conversations today. We will be continuing later on, during the working lunch.

I conclude by once again thanking you for the very fruitful discussions, for your presence here, for the friendship of the Austrian people, and I am looking forward to the continuation of our discussion.

(AP/GS/NZ)

Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Constantinos Kombos, after his meeting with the Federal Minister of European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Ms Beate Meinl-Reisinger

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