Official visit of the Minister of Defense of Cyprus

27 May, 2015 00:00

Upon the invitation of ARM Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, the delegation headed by Christoforos Fokaides - Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Cyprus - paid an official visit to the Republic of Armenia.

The visit aims to strengthen the Armenian-Cypriot relations within the sphere of defense and determine directions for the future. Throughout the discussions, which occurred on May 27 in the administrative complex of the ARM MoD, both parties stressed that the Armenia-Cyprus relations are based on historical and cultural commonalities, mutual support, and matching approaches on international and regional security issues. It was emphasized that bilateral cooperation in the defense sector needs to be intensified as to form an effective partnership level in the fields of economy, culture, education, etc. Resulting from the meeting, the Defense Ministers of the Republics of Armenia and Cyprus agreed on the following priority areas of bilateral cooperation in the defense sector: reciprocal visits and staff negotiations; implementation of joint military training exercises and other events dedicated to combat readiness; exchange of experience in various fields and organization of leisure activities for militaries. At the end of the meeting, Seyran Ohanyan and Chritoforos Fokaides signed the cooperation plan on defense for 2015. During his stay in Armenia, the Minister of National Defense of Cyprus also visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial.