Cooperation in the field of energy was discussed, among other things, by Cyprus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Constantinos Kombos, and his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, who visited Cyprus on Tuesday on the occasion of the official re-opening of the Hungarian Embassy in Nicosia.
The two Ministers, in their statements after their private meeting and extended talks between the two sides at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that they discussed bilateral relations, European issues, the crisis in the Middle East, the Cyprus issue and the migration issue.
As regards bilateral relations, Kombos said tha, there has been significant progress especially in areas such as education, tourism, and business, and that they will continue to facilitate people-to people and business-to-business contacts to make sure they have the space to further expand these relations.
He also said that they had a discussion on the energy field. ‘There is a common understanding that, the EU and, of course, the member states, ne
ed to increase their autonomy, in terms of reliance from sources of energy, and recent discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean are creating the hope that there could be a strong alternative, a corridor for the whole of Europe, from Cyprus’, Kombos said.
‘We expressed our readiness to promote cooperation with the exchange of experts, in relation to renewables and to the diversification of the energy sources,’ he added.
Szijjártó said that bilateral relations, ‘in these complicated times’ were ‘of utmost significance’.
He noted that his country has ‘always respected the Cypriot approach on all issues in the European Union, that you have always stood up for your national interest and we do the same’. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the political coordination between the two countries ‘became really intensive’, he added.
Szijjártó said that the number of tourists has been increasing rapidly as there were more than 66,000 Hungarians visiting Cyprus only last year, noting that there has been a 31% incr
ease, while, since Brexit, he added, the size of the Hungarian community in Cyprus has been growing. There were almost 4,000 Hungarians living on the island, he said, adding that Hungarian troops have been involved in the operations of the UN peacekeeping force in in Cyprus (UNFICYP), ‘in order to ensure the stability and security of Cyprus’.
‘We are happy that we were able to manage our trade volume to be maintained at 100 million euros’, he said, noting that they would do their best to maintain that in the future as well.
A new area of cooperation could be energy, he noted. Hungary, he said, is looking for diversification opportunities ‘and we understand that the new exploration and new findings around Cyprus can serve as a chance for diversification, so in the upcoming period of time, coordination and consultations on the field of safe supply of energy will be very active’.
Based on all these, he added, they decided to reopen their embassy in Cyprus, to a new location, ‘which will allow us to ensure ser
vice for both Hungarian and Cypriot citizens according to satisfactory standards’.
Kombos said that he briefed his Hungarian counterpart about the latest developments on the Cyprus issue, ‘and I expressed Cyprus’ appreciation for the principled stance of Hungary as regards the Cyprus problem, either at the Council of Europe, or the UN’.
‘Our position is very clear, we are working towards substantive negotiations based on a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality as provided in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions’, Kombos said.
‘We are at a critical juncture’, he added, noting that the two-state approach by the other side ‘cannot be accepted, not only for the Republic of Cyprus but also as regards the international community as a whole’.
He said that he also briefed the Hungarian Minister about the ongoing strategy of Turkey and the illegal cessationist entity, as he said, ‘to normalise illegality, by making the latter, be seen as part of the international community’. The internation
al community, he said, ‘must not be misled. There is no other position that full commitment to the UN Charter’.
‘The illusion of normalisation is in effect, opening Pandora’s Box for the international community and, as such, it is not just about the Republic of Cyprus’, Kombos noted.
The Cypriot Minister said they also discussed issues of common European interest, ahead of Hungary’s upcoming assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in July, and Cyprus’ term in the first half of 2026. He said he was briefed of Hungary’s priorities, ‘and once again I express my sincere wish for a successful Presidency’.
They also discussed about the EU enlargement, the EU reform, and the EU-Turkey basket, especially the Cyprus elements and solidarity between members states, the situation in Ukraine and in the Middle East, Kombos said.
Szijjártó, referring to Hungary’s EU Presidency, said that his country would put the issue of the EU enlargement very high on the agenda, towards the Western Balkans
case. The region has been very important for Hungary in the recent years and decades, he added, ‘and we will continue to help the countries of the Western Balkans to accelerate their accession procedure’. He said that there should be ‘no fast lane for political reasons’ and that, all countries must be judged based their own merit.
The majority of the EU member states are against the enlargement, he noted, adding that, since both Cyprus and Hungary were in favour ‘we will join our efforts in order to push the issue of enlargement forward on the agenda’.
He said that they will also put a lot of emphasis ‘on fighting illegal migration’, noting that, for Hungary, not management of the issue, but ‘stopping illegal migration’ was ‘the right approach’.
Szijjártó also said that the Hungarian government ‘represents a pro-peace position’, and that ‘just like Cyprus’, it has not delivered weapons to Ukraine, nor will it do so, ‘and we are strongly against even those statements which put forward the possibility of sen
ding troops to Ukraine’.
He also said that ‘it became really obvious’ that the sanctions were harming European countries as well. ‘The distribution of this harm is not equal’, he added, noting that still there was no chance to discuss a possibility of a compensation mechanism, for example, through which those countries, which are suffering the most harm from ‘our own sanction policy, could be compensated.’
He also said his country was ‘strongly against’ eliminating the EU unanimity voting system.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Columbia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyp
rus News Agency