Relations between Egypt and Cyprus at their best, ambassador tells CNA (video)

Relations between Egypt and Cyprus are at their best right now, Amr Hamza, Ambassador of Egypt to Cyprus told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday, adding that “there is an upward trajectory because things are moving forward on different avenues.”

Hamza spoke to CNA on the sidelines on his visit to the news agency, during which he had discussions with staff members about current developments in Cyprus and the wider region.

Elaborating further on the ties between the two countries, the ambassador said: “the strength of our relationship is not just in terms of pursuing different avenues of bilateral cooperation, but equally in terms of the level of consultation and coordination we have on different regional issues.”

“I think that there is no better way to characterise the nature of our relations than as strategic, there is no better term to define the scope of consultations and common views that we have as than eye-to-eye and maybe no better way to predict and project the future of our relations than being promising and full of potential”, noted the Egyptian diplomat.

Asked about the particular role energy plays at this point in time, Hamza reiterated that energy is becoming very important, not just regionally or bilaterally between Egypt and Cyprus, but worldwide.

“Energy issues have taken centrestage at this particular time and we consider cooperation with Cyprus in the energy sector of strategic nature. Our partnership is multi-faceted in different aspects, whether in terms of the sectors it covers, electricity and gas, or in terms of the tracks that we pursue,” he stressed.

“We have bilateral projects with Cyprus, both on natural gas and electricity, we also have trilateral projects with the cooperation of Greece and multilateral regional projects, such as the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, which is a very important regional organisation that not only consults on areas relating to gas but serves as a model for how to cooperate regionally and define the future aspects of how engagement should be carried out in our region,” he said.