We will continue to increase our capabilities towards assisting any humanitarian operation or contingency in the region, National Guard Chief Lt. General Demokritos Zervakis said Thursday, during a drill at Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Larnaka.
Lt. General Zervakis said that to this end, exercise Argonaut will remain the centre of their efforts, "as an outstanding opportunity to enhance the corporation with all neighbouring and friendly countries, always in the pursuit of peace and stability in this area of the world".
He said that this year’s exercise is divided into 3 phases and that yesterday, during the search and rescue phase, the participants dealt with a mass rescue operation due to an aircraft accident with Larnaka Airport and in parallel a Maritime accident within the Larnaka Search and Rescue region.
He explained that National plan Tefkros was activated, under the coordination of the joint rescue and coordination centre, adding that in order to rescue all people in distress, national forces, aeronautical assets and personnel from 8 other countries were involved.
The 2nd phase of Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation was in process in “Zenon Coordination Centre” yesterday the National Guard Chief said. More than 200 diplomats and military were involved, from 17 countries in addition to the UN and the EU, he said.
Zervakis also said that currently during the 3rd phase, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordinates the implementation of the National plan “ESTIA” where 16 competent services of the Republic, coordinate to assist and support 18 embassies and two international organisations for the mass reception of their citizens.
"This exercise demonstrated clearly that the Republic of Cyprus plays a constructive regional role and functions is a reliable interlocutor, acting as an interconnecting bridge and a peace facilitator between North Africa, the Near and Middle East and the European Union," he said.
Crisis in Sudan an opportunity to cooperate closely, test our readiness to react, said Ambassador Mavromatis
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Ambassador Omiros Mavromatis, who delivered Minister of Foreign Affairs' speech, said that the crisis in Sudan has given us the opportunity to cooperate closely, test our preparedness and readiness to react.
It also gave us the opportunity to see in practice how we can best use our resources and implement our plan in order to offer effective evacuation not only to the UK and Cypriots, eligible persons but also to individuals from another 27 partner countries such as the USA, Australia, Ireland, Canada and Switzerland.
He said that the MFA assumed, this year the organization of the Distinguished Visitor Day during which visitors will have the opportunity to see how the Special National Plan ESTIA is implemented and how the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, in cooperation with respective embassies and relevant stakeholders act and react to possible scenarios dealing with issues pertaining to solving consular issues that may arise during an evacuation operation, terrorism, illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking, medical emergencies, etc.
Ambassador Mavromatis added that during ESTIA's activation 31 flights were carried out, 29 by the British and 2 by Australians which carried 2,611 individuals out of Sudan, 14 of which were of Cypriot descent / connection.
As regards the Argonaut drill he said that the next 3 days including today, the NEO CG tabletop Exercise was executed with the addition of a lessons learnt session stemming from the recent evacuation of non combatant individuals from Sudan.
He expressed his certainty that this session was extremely useful since it provided all participating nations with valuable lessons learnt that will be incorporated in their operational planning.
Ambassador Mavromatis noted that this is also the case for the Special National Plan ESTIA, in which all interested parties and stakeholders – Ministries and Agencies of the Republic of Cyprus will proceed with the necessary changes to their planning in order to evolve and synchronize it with the current needs.
He paid special tribute to the Ministry of Defence and all other Ministries and Agencies of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as to the Cypriot Red Cross, not only for their participation in the Argonaut 2023 Exercise, but also for their valuable assistance and cooperation during the actual activation of the ESTIA Special National Plan for the evacuation from Sudan.
He also thank the Chief of the National Guard for the close cooperation and his commitment to upgrade the National Guard.
Source: Cyprus News Agency