On Tuesday 24 March 2026, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias met with the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus Vasilis Palmas in the Armed Forces Officers Club, on the occasion of the latter’s visit to Athens, in order to attend the military parade.
During their joint statements after the meeting, Mr. Dendias pointed out:
“Today, I had the great pleasure to once again receive, here in Athens, my counterpart, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus, Vasilis Palmas.
The Minister travelled to Athens in order to attend the parade of the 25th of March with us.
However, that gave us the opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations; our defence relations.
We discussed the Greek military presence in Cyprus, as well as at sea and in the air. A presence, which is constantly re-evaluated depending on circumstances and the need for our presence there.
However, we extensively discussed the situation in the Middle East, Lebanon, Iran, and the hits that our economies are taking due to the increase in energy prices.
In addition, we repeated our previous discussion on our bilateral relations, since, as you know, the Republic of Cyprus has expressed interest in procuring the “CENTAUR” system. So, that topic was also discussed.
The Minister will meet with personnel of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry, where the systems will be presented to him, but I think that the interest shown by the Republic of Cyprus should be considered strong and a given, as he will verify himself”.
