Regional developments were on the agenda as President Nikos Christodoulides met Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias at the presidential palace on Monday to brief him on Cyprus problem updates.

“Today we had a very important meeting with the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy [Angela Holguin]. We will discuss all of this, and I have also seen a statement from the Turkish presidency; we will discuss that as well, along with a statement from the [north],” Christodoulides said.

Dendias thanked the president for welcoming him and congratulated him on the work of Cyprus throughout it presidency of the EU Council, which ends at the end of the month.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the Cyprus Presidency, on how a small country has managed to hold the Presidency of the European Union for six months with great success,” he said.

Dendias acknowledged Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas’ accomplishments as the chairman of the informal council of defence ministers held earlier in the day, stressing that his input had led to a substantial discussion on common security.

“Today we have a very substantial discussion on the issues of our common security, as you said earlier, something that concerns both Greece and Cyprus very much, which is the creation of a single defence space, a perception of the European Union, a curation of defence programmes and an evolution of the defence capability, so that we can defend this unique area of democracy and protection of human rights that is the EU,” he said.