The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, goes to Beirut tonight to participate in the work of the first official tripartite Ministerial Meeting of Cyprus – Greece – Lebanon.
At the meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, Mr Christodoulides, together with his Lebanese counterparts, Gebran Bassil , and Greece, Mr George Katrougalos, are expected to lay the groundwork for further strengthening and promoting tripartite cooperation in the fields of tourism, education, economy and trade, on the basis of pre-service work. The three Ministers will also discuss regional and international issues of common interest. In the talks on cooperation in the tourism sector, the responsible Ministers / Ministers of the three countries will also participate, with the Deputy Minister of Tourism Mr Savva Perdio to participate on behalf of Cyprus.
Upon completion of the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of the three countries will make statements to SME representatives (at 12.30pm) and a Joint Statement will be adopted.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Mr. Christodoulides will address a business forum, which will include a delegation of Cypriot businessmen to accompany the Foreign Minister to Lebanon. On Thursday morning, Mr. Christodoulides, together with the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Mr. G. Lakkotropi, will have a joint bilateral meeting with the Foreign and Energy Ministers of Lebanon, Mr. Gebran Bassil and Ms. Nada Boustani
, which is expected to discuss, inter alia, issues related to the Cyprus – Lebanon cooperation in the field of energy and energy security in the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean. At the end of the meeting, Ministers will make statements to the media (at 10.45am).
During his stay in Lebanon, Mr Christodoulides will be admitted to separate meetings by Lebanese President Michel Aoun , Prime Minister Saad Hariri and House Speaker Nabih Berri, which will have the opportunity, among other things, to exchange views with their interlocutors on the strong links between Cyprus and Lebanon and the further strengthening of bilateral relations, EU-Lebanon relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest of interest.
The Foreign Minister will return to Cyprus on Thursday night.
