Cyprus Says Cooperation With France Built On Solid Basis - Foreign Minister

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) Cyprus Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides on Friday said that the strategic partnership between his country and France was firm and was aimed at the solution of common issues.

Christodoulides's statement followed his meeting with French State Secretary for European Affairs Clement Beaune.

"The contacts I had with my friend the Minister for European Affairs of France @CBeaune [Clement Beaune] are sincere, constructive & particularly productive. Our strategic cooperation with #France is based on solid foundations and is important to meet our common challenges," Christodoulides wrote on Twitter.

Beaune said in a separate tweet that the bilateral relations of the two states are based on "solidarity, unity and sovereignty".

Cyprus and France share the same concerns over the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which has been the subject of Turkey's gas exploration initiative in the areas that Cyprus, as well as Greece, claim as their exclusive economic zones (EEZ). In particular, Ankara has rejected Nicoasia's claims over the first gas deposits off the coast of the EEZs since they were discovered in 2011.