The demographic issue is ‘killing’ both Greece and Cyprus and this problem is the largest they face, Greek deputy foreign minister Ioannis Loverdos said on Wednesday.

“We need to change this course,” he said as he arrived at Cyprus’ presidential palace amid his visit to the island to attend the annual World Conference of Cyprus Diaspora.

“There are many national issues which may not be directly related to the Cyprus problem, but which have value. They are directly related, and we must emphasise them,” he said.

He added that the Greek government was always there to assist the Cypriot government in whatever it needed.

“You know this. After all, for 51 years, that has been our first priority, and we greatly appreciate the efforts which have been made by the current Cypriot government in this direction. Greece will always be an assistant to Cyprus in whatever it needs and with whatever it can offer,” he said.

He then turned his attention directly to the Cyprus problem, and said that it is “not a bilateral difference of opinion between Greece and Turkey”.

Instead, he said, “it is an international issue which concerns the United Nations and the European Union primarily, but also all the actors of the international community”.

“This must be understood by everyone, that it is an issue which goes beyond relations between Turkey and Greece. It is an issue on which we must all work in the direction of implementing the UN’s resolutions,” he said.

President Nikos Christodoulides welcomed him at the palace, saying that it is “always a pleasure to have you in Cyprus, especially within the context” of the diaspora conference.

“I said yesterday that I had the blessing in different capacities, as a student in the United States, later as a diplomat in London and Athens, then as government spokesman and foreign minister, to get to know our diaspora, who do a tremendous job, firsthand,” he said.

He added that the people who make up Cyprus’ diaspora are “our best ambassadors abroad”, and that they “maintain strong ties to the homeland, but at the same time, they have been integrated into the countries in which they are hosted”.

As such, he said, many of them now hold “important political and economic positions”.

“Therefore, we have an obligation to utilise them even more, to work together. I believe very much in the diaspora,” he said.

He also passed comment on the state of relations between Cyprus and Greece, describing them as “fraternal”.

“In fact, we went a step further with [Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis] … and from the very first moment, we established that the Republic of Cyprus is not only the Cyprus problem, it is the solution to many of the problems faced by both the region and by the European Union,” he said.