“I would like to thank the Defence Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Savas Angelidis, for his warm welcome and hospitality within the framework of the 2nd Trilateral Meeting of the Defence Ministers of Cyprus, Israel, and Greece.

Together with my good friends and colleagues, Mr. Angelidis and Mr. Lieberman, we reiterated today the political vision of our three governments for a long term, cohesive, deep, and effective strategic cooperation, fully respecting the national interests and sensitivities of each party, in line with internal and international law, and in a spirit of good neighbourly relations with the countries of the region.

This second meeting of the Defence Ministers of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel that took place today is proof of our commitment and decisiveness to join forces and focus our actions in order to prevent any challenge that could put our peoples’ security and prosperity at risk.

With Mr. Angelidis and Mr. Lieberman, we all expressed our concerns about the developments in the broader region of the Eastern Mediterranean and agreed that the risks and threats exported from the nearby conflict areas constitute a major challenge for the defence of our countries, as well as for the security of our peoples in the coming years.

We agreed that there is an even more imperative need for closer cooperation among our countries’ Armed Forces in order to improve situational awareness, enhance their deterrent capability, as well as develop defensive capabilities adapted to the new threats.

Our second meting today produced actual results in the direction of the systematic enhancement and deepening of our defence cooperation, which also includes the meetings of the high level standing committee that has already been established and functions within our ministries.

Furthermore, we have started to expand the defence technical cooperation among Cyprus, Greece, and Israel with the first defence industry conference, which lays the foundation for synergy in the respective areas in order to promote our common operational requirements, as well as use and combine the capabilities of our defence industries.

In conclusion, I would like to stress that I am totally convinced that our countries’ security is guaranteed by the high level of our Armed Forces and their effectiveness, which is even more enhanced by international cooperations such as the one among Cyprus, Israel, and Greece.

We have decided that the next meeting will take place in Israel, hosted by Mr. Lieberman, whom we thank for the invitation.

I would also like to thank His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, for the honour of receiving us.

Yesterday’s Eurogroup decision is a very important decision for Greece. Greece exits eight years of deep economic crisis.

This decision will also have positive results for the Armed Forces personnel.

I am certain that the expansion of this trilateral cooperation to include other countries as well will lead to the creation of an axis of stability in the broader region.

We can say that the Mediterranean Union is born”.