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Ammon News -

Cypriot Defense Minister, Charalambos Petrides, said Jordan is a "main" factor of stability in the region.

In an interview with "Petra" on the sidelines of his visit to the Kingdom, which began on Wednesday, Petrides said recognising the extremely important role of Jordan as a factor of stability in the region, Cyprus is attributing great importance in further developing its bilateral ties with Jordan.

"Our respective leaders have excellent cooperation and our political consultations and collaboration is also at a historic high," he pointed out.

"Cyprus maintains excellent bilateral relations with almost all countries of the region. Our objective is to create an environment conducive to lasting peace, security and prosperity in the region, in which Jordan constitutes an essential beacon of stability," he said.

He also said Cyprus is also one of the staunchest supporters of Jordan in the EU – always advocating for the need the EU to pay closer attention to Jordan’s security needs, adding that his country will continue working and enhancing our partnership with Jordan.

He said his working visit to Jordan following an invitation from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and should be seen in the context of the "excellent" bilateral relations between Cyprus and Jordan and reflects the "very good" cooperation between the two countries in the areas of security and defence.

" Our aim is to have productive and forward looking consultations and exchange of views on issues related to our bilateral defence cooperation as well as issues of mutual interest, especially for the security of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East," he noted.

Cyprus always aims to cultivate close and friendly relations with all our neighbours and especially with the Arab world. In this context we ascribe special significance to our relations with Jordan, he said.

 

From our point of view, Petrides said: "We are keen to maintain the momentum in bilateral defence cooperation which has progressed in a very steady pace over the last two years."

Petrides said his visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of celebrating Jordan-Cyprus diplomatic relations.

For marking this special occasion, he noted his country's armed forces donated an armoured vehicle that belonged to Cypriot National Guard, for display at the Royal Tank Museum in Amman.

On bilateral relations and the existing cooperation between Cyprus and Jordan in various fields, especially defense cooperation, he said bilateral defence cooperation is "a very meaningful" one, adding that " we have a very targeted and substantial annual defence cooperation programme that every year is expanded with new areas and activities."

" We are on a trajectory for enhancing our defence collaboration even further and built on our existing fruitful cooperation," he said.

Notably, he said: "We have excellent cooperation in our various joint activities and exercises that enhance the interoperability and military to military ties between our personnel."

Cypriot Armed Forces have been benefited immensely having being able to take part in important multinational exercises that take place in Jordan such with our Special Forces at Exercise "Eager Lion" and "Warrior Competition" and able to access and receive specialized anti-terrorism training in the impressive King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC), he noted.

Cyprus and Jordan share common interests and are called upon to face common challenges. At the same time, we have common goals that are no other than regional stability and prosperity for our citizens. To this end our two countries have a shared interest in combating terrorism, he pointed out.

Amongst other forms of cooperation, both Cyprus and Jordan are part of the Global Coalition against Daesh and Cyprus supported His Majesty’s Aqaba Process by providing military equipment in support of the Jordanian Armed Forces, he said.

In this context, in March, Cyprus participated in the Aqaba Process meeting on East Africa, upon invitation by His Majesty, he noted.

The tripartite cooperation mechanism between Jordan, Cyprus and Greece contributes to regional cooperation, he said, adding that it is a "very effective" form of regional multilateralism that provides a paradigm shift for the entire region.

"We already had a number of trilateral Summits and I was honored to host the first trilateral meeting on defence issues last December in Cyprus," he stated.

There is "huge" scope and potential to this project, not only in the fields of defence and security but also, in trade, investments, energy, tourism, culture and education, he concluded.