Press Releases

It gives me great pleasure to announce, just a few hours after my arrival to your country, one of the first results of my official visit to Cyprus. Today, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Charalambos Petrides, and I have signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus on cooperation in the field of defence. Indeed, I value this all the more as we mark 20 years since the Slovak Armed Forces first deployed to serve in Cyprus.

Although the Slovak Republic has been contributing to the security of this island for the past 20 years, which has fundamentally shaped our bilateral ties with the Republic of Cyprus, we have so far missed out on a contractual basis – an agreement for fostering our excellent and smooth cooperation. That being the case, I am convinced that with the signing of today's Memorandum we will work towards a further desired intensification of the politico-military engagement between our two counties, which are both EU members.

I would like to grab this opportunity to say “thank you” publicly to Mr Petrides for his friendly, professional and flexible cooperation with the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic in formulating the Memorandum of Understanding over the past few weeks.

The goal of the Memorandum is to set the main principles and procedures for the delivery of our all-inclusive cooperation in the field of defence with the Republic of Cyprus. This has already been underway today in the form of political talks and our joint participation in PESCO projects. Yet still, we are looking forward to our cooperation in many other areas such as military exercises and armaments.

Thank you very much.

(MG/IK)