Cyprus, Greece and Jordan move to set up tripartite pact

Cyprus, Greece and Jordan have set in motion the procedure to strike a tripartite pact committing them to cooperate on security, regional problems and other issues, a declaration issued in Nicosia said on Monday.

The declaration came at the end of a meeting of the Permanent Secretaries of the Foreign Ministries of the three countries in the Cypriot capital.

They said that the next move will be a Foreign Ministers meeting later in the summer to prepare a summit, probably by the end of the year.

The declaration set out the framework of the pact between the three countries which is being modeled on similar cooperation agreements Cyprus and Greece signed with Egypt and Israel.

It said the Permanent Secretaries discussed security, fighting terrorism, problems with which the region is faced with, such as the Middle East and the Cyprus problems, the refugee crisis, cultural issues and water management.

The Middle East and Cyprus problems are the longest standing issues on the United Nations Security Council Agenda and the refugee crisis is burdening both Greece and Jordan, and to a much lesser degree, Cyprus.

Cypriot Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Alexandros Zenon said the discussions were held on the lines of a preparatory meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Jordan in Brussels in January.

"Our target is to promote conditions of security and stability, peace and welfare in the region of the eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East," Zenon said.

"There is already cooperation on the refugee and migration crisis which affect Greece and Jordan and fighting terrorist. This cooperation will be expanded further as the three countries are bound together by geography," he added.

Answering a question, Zenon said the energy issue was not discussed in particular as there is already an expression of interest by Jordan to buy Cypriot natural gas from an offshore field and details will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of experts of the two sides.

Source: XINHUA