Cyprus seeks to be a reliable security multiplier in a very stormy region, Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou has said, speaking recently on the “Challenges of the `New` Middle East – regional and European Dimensions” at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Cyprus Model United Nations organized by the Diplomatic Academy of the University of Nicosia and the UNYSA Cyprus.

Photiou underlined that Cyprus has no hidden agendas in the region. “We are a transparent and responsible stakeholder which aims at working with all its partners for the benefit of the region, of its societies and of its economies,” he added.

“We see that in order to respond to regional and transborder issues, be they security challenges, environmental issues, illegal trafficking etc, everybody needs to be involved and engaged. I think that this fair and balanced approach of Cyprus is also welcomed by our neighbours who understand our approach that relations with one country are not to the detriment of another country. An example I like to use to show this is air connectivity. Cyprus is the only country in the region that has direct air links with Iran, with the Gulf countries, with Israel, with Lebanon and so on,” he noted.

Photiou also said that Cyprus seeks to be an honest broker and a reliable interlocutor for the relations between the EU and the Southern Partners, both in terms of the European Neighbourhood Policy as well as the bilateral relations between the EU and the countries of the region.

He acknowledged that sometimes “our approach to regional issues or on issues relating to countries such as Egypt or Lebanon may differ from the view of our northern or Nordic EU partners,” noting that this is “because we feel that we have a more realistic grasp of the region and a less Eurocentric approach, based on the historic relations and interactions between our countries and societies.”

Cyprus, he said, plays an active role on issues such as maritime security and international anti-smuggling efforts and is providing the headquarters of the maritime component of UNIFIL, the United Nations International Force in Lebanon.

“We are also supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces as a major pillar of stability in the country and over the past 2 years, we have donated to them more than 20 million USD worth of military materiel. Similar support has been given to Jordan’s King Abdullah’s `Aqaba Process Initiative` which aims at strengthening the capabilities of countries in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel to counter terrorists threats,” he added.

Referring to the issue of the trilateral formats of cooperation that Cyprus and Greece have established and Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon respectively, Photiou said that “we have sought to identify specific projects of cooperation that can be pursued under these trilateral cooperations,” adding that “these are tailor-made cooperation, not aimed against anyone in the region nor running contrary to anyone else’s interests.”

At the same time, he added, “the hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean provide us with another key driver for strengthening this regional approach. This untapped wealth may be the precursor of a political multilateralism, the same way the Coal and Steel were the precursors of the European Economic Community and of the European Union.”