Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Sunday, 14 February 2021), at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, met with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and made the following remarks:

 

"President Nicos Anastasiades, Nicos, you're a great friend of Israel and a great personal friend of mine, and I welcome you and your delegation once again to Jerusalem.

 

“Since you were first elected President in 2013, we worked together tirelessly and effectively to build a very special partnership between Cyprus and Israel. And through our common efforts I think we have ensured that our relationship is constantly growing stronger all the time.

 

“Israel and Cyprus embrace a future of progress, prosperity, peace and security. To better seize the opportunities of the twenty-first century, Israel and Cyprus cooperate in energy, water, tourism, technology and many other fields. And to better ensure the safety and wellbeing of our citizens, we cooperate in healthcare, public security and emergency services.

 

“Our medical collaboration has grown over the years. But the common battle against the COVID-19 pandemic has energized that important cooperation. We shall discuss that today as well.

 

“Over the last few weeks, we have discussed Israel's ongoing vaccination campaign, and how to safely reopen, safely reopen, our economies. I want to thank you for Cyprus' willingness to recognize Israel's vaccination passports and Israel will also recognize Cypriot vaccination passports. This opens up the possibility of restarting tourism in the near future. It's not going to open right in the next few weeks, but it will open not far away.Cypriot tourists in Israel. Israeli tourists in Cyprus.

 

“In energy, we will continue to work on the EastMed pipeline. We have, I heard, some interesting suggestions by my friend Prime Minister Mitsotakis of Greece. I think that this can bring our efforts exporting the natural gas that you have and we have to new heights and new possibilities.

 

“I mentioned the fact that this visit comes in the heels of the visit of the prime minister of Greece,​ and it's a fact that we have built not only a bilateral alliance, but a trilateral alliance, which I think is good for the region, good for our countries, I think it's good for the world.

 

“As you well know, we recently signed the Abraham Accords, the historic peace treaties with four Arab countries. We have normalized relations with a good part of the Arab world, and this opens up options for new regional cooperation that can involve Cyprus as well.

 

“We already see this through the involvement of Arab countries in the East-Med Gas Forum. They're coming to our gas cooperation, and that's a sign of the future. I think this is only just the beginning.

 

“I look forward to working with you on the new opportunities for greater regional cooperation, and to further upgrade the already excellent Cyprus-Israel relationship. Welcome back to Jerusalem, my friend."

 

Later, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara welcomed President Anastasiades at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. The Prime Minister and Cypriot President held a working meeting.