Statements by the President of the Republic after his meeting with the Emir of Qatar

“A team from Qatar’s various investment funds will visit Cyprus to explore the country’s investment prospects in the infrastructure, energy and tourism sectors,” the President of the Republic, Mr Nikos Christodoulides, said today after his meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He also noted that a team of experts from Cyprus will travel to Qatar in relation to the Republic of Cyprus’ proposal for the establishment of a maritime corridor for the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In his statements, the President of the Republic stated: “Qatar was the first Gulf country I visited both for our bilateral issues as well as on the occasion of the developments in our region and the decisive role Qatar plays.

Let me begin with our bilateral relations and the agreement today with the Emir on the need to further strengthen our relations, particularly in the economic sector.

I welcome the fact that, within the framework of our meeting, the Emir decided to send to Cyprus, in the coming weeks, a team from Qatar’s various investment funds in order to explore the prospects for his country’s investments in the infrastructure, energy and tourism sectors.

Furthermore, an important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Education was signed today, which paves the way for our country’s universities to be included in the list of universities that Qatar gives scholarships to its nationals to study abroad.

In the framework of the discussions, a lengthy conversation was held on developments in the region and particularly on the role the Republic of Cyprus can play through its initiative for the creation of a humanitarian maritime corridor. The Emir of Qatar was well aware of the Republic of Cyprus’ proposal. As he mentioned, he had discussed it with the French President and he fully supports it. We agreed that in the next few days a technical team from Cyprus, our team of experts who are working on the details of our proposal, will be here in order to proceed with the implementation of everything as described in the Republic of Cyprus’ proposal.

During our discussion, we had the opportunity to exchange views on the Cyprus problem. We are all aware of the special relations between Qatar and Turkey, and any assistance Qatar can provide towards the resumption of the talks, on the basis of the agreed framework, is something we will welcome.”

(GS/EP)

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