Cyprus – Egypt – Greece 2nd Trilateral Summit
Nicosia
Declaration
We, Nicos
Anastasiades, President of the Republic of Cyprus, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi,
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of
the Hellenic Republic, cognizant
of the immense and ever-growing challenges to the stability, security and
prosperity of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the wider region
and aware of the need for a constant and concerted collective response, have
met in Nicosia,
Cyprus, on April 29th, 2015 for the second Cyprus-Egypt-Greece
Trilateral Summit, to effectively address these challenges and to continue
nurturing our tripartite cooperation, building on the significant progress
achieved so far.
This 2nd Trilateral Summit further strengthens our
well-established tripartite partnership promoting peace, stability, security and
prosperity and cooperation in all fields in the Eastern Mediterranean
(political, economic, trade, culture, tourism). In this respect, we reiterated
our countries’ common position as reflected in the trilateral summit Cairo
Declaration of November 8 th 2014. This framework serves as a model
for a broader regional dialogue, including through close coordination and
cooperation in the framework of multilateral fora, as well as through efforts to
further promote relations between the EU and the Arab world.
We acknowledge the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation for
the countries of the region. In particular, we fully support the efforts of the
Union for the Mediterranean towards growth and socio-economic development.
We emphasize and re-affirm our previous commitment to mobilize all our
capabilities to effectively promote common values and interests. This tripartite
consultation mechanism, which meets regularly at various levels, aims at working
towards unleashing the full potential of our region to the benefit of the
peoples of our three countries and of the whole region.
The scourge of international terrorism threatens the Middle East, North
Africa, the Sahel region and sub-Saharan Africa, the Gulf and Europe. This
universal threat requires a comprehensive, coordinated and collective response
by the international community. We strongly condemn all terrorist actions and
call upon all states to actively and effectively confront this menace and to
step up cooperation on security matters with a view to countering extremist
groups and exposing their political and financial supporters. We take note of
the announcement at the latest Summit of the League of Arab States held in Sharm
Elsheikh, Egypt 28-29 March 2015 on the formation of an Arab Rapid Reaction
Force to effectively tackle the terrorist threat.
We have agreed to step up cooperation on counter-terrorism,
defence/security and discussing relevant information to jointly combat against
terrorism and violent extremism and to promote regional security, long-term
stability and prosperity.
We are encouraged by the recent gains of the Iraqi forces in Iraq with
the support of the anti-ISIL international coalition; it appears though that
significant challenges remain, taking into consideration ISIL’s ability to
recruit additional fighters and its latest counter-attacks. With regard to Syria, we continue to support
the efforts of the United Nations Special Envoy de Mistura for a new political
process in Syria and to encourage collective action under the United Nations
auspices on the basis of Security Council Resolution 2174 and 2178. We also emphasize the need to continue
supporting regional countries which suffer from the spill-over effects of this
crisis and extend our support to the Egyptian efforts to facilitate consensus
among the Syrian opposition groups in the view of promoting a political solution
in the Syrian crisis according to the Geneva Communiqué.
We are gravely concerned over the deterioration of the security situation
in Libya and the growing terrorist threat therein also affecting security and
stability in neighbouring countries. Therefore, we strongly support the
implementation of a counter-terrorist strategy in parallel to the political
dialogue and reconciliation process and the implementation of the relevant
Security Council resolutions, in particular 2213 and 2214. We express our
support for the work of the UNSG Special Representative for Libya Bernardino
León and at the same time, we reaffirm our position supporting the legitimate
institutions, including the current government in El-Beida formed by the House
of Representatives until the formation of a national unity government.
The deteriorating situation in Yemen threatens to destabilize the Gulf
area, the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and the wider Middle East. We express our
strong support for the legitimate government of Yemen and for the preservation
of its unity and territorial integrity. UN-led efforts to resume inclusive
negotiations without preconditions are the only way forward and we welcome the
efforts by the Gulf Cooperation Council to complement UN initiatives. All
parties must fully implement respective UNSC resolutions, in particular UNSC RES
2201 of 15 February 2015 and RES 2216 of 14 April 2015. We stress the need to
address with determination the threat of extremist and terrorist groups present
in Yemen. At the same time, all parties must ensure the protection of civilians
and allow unrestricted access to humanitarian aid for the civilian
population.
We call for the realization of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace
settlement in the Middle East based on the relevant United Nations Security
Council resolutions, the establishment of a sovereign, viable and contiguous
Palestinian state on the territories occupied since 4 June 1967 with East
Jerusalem as its capital, and living in peace and security with all its
neighbors, in accordance with the positions and initiatives taken by the
European Union and the Arab League. Such a settlement remains the only guarantee
to avoid the recurrence of innocent civilian deaths, destruction and heightening
tension. We strongly support the resumption of negotiations to achieve a
comprehensive settlement on the basis of the two-state solution. In this context we commend Egypt’s
continuous efforts to reach a durable ceasefire in Gaza and to bring peace to
the Middle East.
The increase of the migratory fluxes constitutes a major challenge for
our countries. We agree to mobilize all efforts at our disposal to prevent
further loss of life at sea and to tackle the root causes of the human tragedy
that we are facing, in cooperation with the countries of origin and
transit.
We recognize that the discovery of important hydrocarbon reserves in the
Eastern Mediterranean can serve as a catalyst for regional cooperation. We stress that this cooperation would be
better served through the adherence by the countries of the region to well
established principles of international Law. In this respect, we emphasize the
universal character of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and
decide to proceed expeditiously with our negotiations on the delimitation of our
maritime zones, where it is not yet done.
We
also call for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Cyprus problem
that will reunify the island in accordance with international law, including the
relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Such a settlement would
not only benefit the people of Cyprus as a whole, but would also significantly
contribute to the stability and peace in the region . We welcome the enhanced possibility for the
resumption of negotiations and the implementation of confidence building
measures.
We agreed to explore all possibilities to further enhance the synergies
among our economies, with a view to create a more positive economic environment
for growth, to tackle the challenges of a rapidly changing international
economic situation and to jointly benefit from important opportunities arising
in our region.
Recognizing that tourism and the maritime industry are vital components
of the economy of all three countries and following the signature on 29.10.2014
of the Tripartite Memorandum on cooperation in the field of tourism among
Cyprus, Greece and Egypt, we agreed to continue working closely together with a view to facilitating
and enhancing cooperation on common projects, with the involvement of state and
private actors, including developing joint tourism packages and cruises,
enhancing the maritime connection between the three countries for the transfer
of both cargo and passengers and initiating cooperation on maritime education
and training.
Our
three countries, convinced of the strategic nature of this trilateral mechanism,
will continue working closely towards unleashing the full potential of their
cooperation, to the benefit of their peoples and the wider region.
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