Larnaca on Friday signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Lebanese city of Jounieh.

The memorandum pertains to cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and investment, and was signed by Larrnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras and Jounieh Mayor Juan Hobeiche in the presence of the Lebanese Ambassador in Nicosia Claude Hajal and other Maronite and Lebanese figures.

Speaking after the signing, Vyras expressed his satisfaction and said that it “realises the desire to establish relations of friendship and cooperation between the historic city of Jounieh and the equally historic city of Larnaca.”

The memorandum, he said, “aims to establish relations of friendship and cooperation in various fields which will promote the values of solidarity between the two cities.”

“The two cities will seek to expand their cooperation in various fields, such as tourism, education, culture, sports, and the environment,” he said, adding that Friday marked “the beginning of a new cooperation between Cyprus and Lebanon.”

Jounieh is a city of around 100,000 people located on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. Its residents are predominantly Maronites, and it is twinned with Monaco, Rio de Janeiro, and the town of Gustavia on the French Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelemy.