Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos on Monday held a series of meetings with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on the sidelines of the day’s EU-Asean ministerial meeting in Brunei.

In a post on social media, he said the representation highlights the importance of Southeast Asia as a strategic priority for both Europe and Cyprus.

“Our country remains consistently present, strengthening its diplomatic footprint in a region of particular geopolitical and economic importance,” he said.

Kombos with Phomvihane

The first minister he met was Brunei’s second minister of foreign affairs Dato Erwan Yusof, whom he thanked for holding the meeting.

“We took stock of relations between Cyprus and Brunei and identified opportunities to further expand bilateral engagement. Regional developments were also addressed, including issues related to stability, connectivity, and the security of energy and trade flows,” he said.

He added that with Cyprus currently holding the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency, the island “will continue working closely with Brunei and Asean partners to advance … relations”.

Kombos with Balakrishnan

Next, he met Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, discussing bilateral relations and “the potential to further deepen cooperation in areas of mutual economic and strategic interest”.

He then met Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas, saying that in that meeting, “we … reaffirmed our shared commitment to international law, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”, while also discussing ways to develop relations between Cyprus and Timor-Leste.

Those relations, he said, can be strengthened “through enhanced cooperation in multilateral for a and in areas such as the blue economy”.

Kombos with Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas

His final meeting of the day was with Laotian Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane, with whom he discussed bilateral relations, among other matters.

Asean is an intergovernmental forum of 11 states in Southeast Asia. Alongside the four states of which Kombos met the foreign minister, its member states are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, while Papua New Guinea is an observer.