The foreign ministers of Cyprus and Jordan on Friday expressed their preference for a results-oriented approach when it comes to the trilateral cooperation scheme with Greece, urging patience before the three countries reconvene again on a ministerial level.
Nasser Judeh, who is also the deputy prime minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is in Nicosia at the invitation of his Cypriot counterpart, Ioannis Kasoulides, in order to address the annual Ambassadors` Conference. The two ministers had a tête-à-tête at the foreign ministry, followed by a working lunch.
Judeh said that the trilateral cooperation “is not about deadlines and meetings for the sake of meetings”. He stressed the potential in various areas of cooperation between the three countries, such as tourism, energy, water and regional security. “Let`s see results and let’s meet these results before meeting,” he said.
He also wished to be able to see one day, in the not too distant future “not just trilateral cooperation, but multilateral cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
On his part, Kasoulides said that following the first trilateral ministerial meeting in Brussels last January, and the contacts that followed between the permanent secretaries of the three foreign ministries in April, all sides need now to “get their homework” done, so that tangible results come out of this cooperation.
“We prefer to organise a ministerial meeting with a little bit of patience, because we want to be able to come out and announce concrete and tangible results,” he added.
On energy discussions between Nicosia and Amman concerning the “Aphrodite” gas reserve, located in block 12 of Cyprus` exclusive economic zone, Judeh said that talks continue, both bilaterally and on a trilateral level, including Greece.
The Jordanian Foreign Minister noted that exploration efforts and the potential to export gas entails a wider discussion, however “on the bilateral/trilateral level, we are on the right track”.
Judeh also said he was looking forward to the opening of the Jordanian Embassy in Cyprus. “We are extremely thankful and appreciative to our Cypriot friends, not just in the context of our bilateral relations, but in the context of the support that we get from Cyprus in the EU,” he added. Jordan and Cyprus were also affected by the developments of the region, he added.
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