Cyprus, Egypt urge peaceful cooperation in E. Mediterranean

NICOSIA - Following their meeting here on Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Cyprus and Egypt called for peaceful cooperation in line with international law in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said relations and cooperation between Cyprus and Egypt were at their highest point ever.

He added that multilateral cooperation agreements, which involve Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, France and the United States, are becoming strategic.

Christodoulides said that Cyprus is concerned over what he called Turkey's "revisionist and destabilizing policies" in the wider region of the eastern Mediterranean.

He also expressed concern over Turkey's claims on sea areas of Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) demarcated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the challenges in the region must be handled with respect to international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries of the region, and without expansionist policies and aggressive actions.

Shoukry said that cooperation between Cyprus and Egypt on a bilateral basis and with Greece within the framework of a trilateral cooperation agreement contributes to the stability of the region.

Egypt was the first country to conclude an agreement with Cyprus demarcating the EEZs of the two countries.

Turkey disputes the demarcation, arguing that large swathes of the eastern Mediterranean close to the western shores of Cyprus lie within the Turkish continental shelf.