President Nikos Christodoulides has said that Greece and Cyprus are “pillars of stability in the region” after meeting with Greek Defence minister Nikos Dendias on Thursday.

Christodoulides welcomed Dendias at the Presidential palace in Nicosia. “We will work together perfectly, just as we did when we were both foreign ministers”, he said.

He said that “our main efforts are to strengthen our deterrent power”, adding that this is one of the priorities of the Cypriot government. He said that this was a priority due to “Turkish behaviour in Cyprus”.

Dendias said he is always happy to be in Cyprus, also making reference to Greece and Cyprus’s longstanding cooperation.

He, too, described the two countries as “forces of stability, forces that strive for the implementation of international law”.