“The Republic of Cyprus will submit its candidacy to the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and, within this context, we will continue to have a leading role in that Organization,” said the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis, on Saturday.

President Christodoulidis, accompanied by Ministers, attended this morning the memorial officiated at the Imprisoned Graves by the Archbishop of Cyprus Georgios, in the context of the national anniversary of April 1st. The President also laid a wreath at the heroes’ graves.

In his statements and when asked what went wrong with the Cypriot candidacy for the General Secretariat of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), President Christodoulidis said that there was no mistake, adding that the agreement between Greece and Turkey for mutual support in the UN Security Council and the IMO had preceded long before any thought for a possible candidacy of the Republic of Cyprus.

The Republic of Cyprus, continued the President of the Republic, will submit its candidacy for the IMO Council, as it has been doing for the last few years and, in fact, it has enough support. Within this context, it will continue to have a leading role in this Organization.

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What is important, he continued, is through the substantial intervention in the IMO the rights of the Republic of Cyprus will be supported, because it is a country which, since 1987, precisely because of the Turkish attitude, has had serious problems in the shipping sector, as Turkey is taking advantage of the crisis in Ukraine, so as to make it difficult for ships bearing the Cypriot flag, he added.

Answering a question whether the election of Turkey to the IMO General Secretariat will have negative consequences for Cyprus, President Christodoulidis said that he by no means consider that the IMO Secretary General, whether Turkish or otherwise, can in any way cause problems for an internationally recognized state, a state which has an important role to play especially in the shipping sector.

Earlier, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, informed his Cypriot counterpart, Konstantinos Kombos, during their bilateral meeting yesterday about Greece’s support for the decision of the Republic of Cyprus to be re-elected to Category C of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for 2024-25.

The elections for Category C of the IMO Council will take place during the 33rd Assembly of the IMO (November 27 – December 6, 2023) and as Greek diplomatic sources report, the said decision of the Greek Government is part of, among others, the exceptional level of maritime cooperation between Greece and Cyprus, both bilaterally and within the framework of the European Union.

In the previous days, it was known that Greece will support Turkey for the General Secretariat of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in the context of reciprocity for the support Turkey will provide to Greece’s candidacy for the United Nations (UN) Security Council Organization.

Source: Euronews

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