Cyprus, Egypt, Greece to augment regional cooperation

Cyprus, Egypt and Greece on Wednesday agreed to augment regional cooperation in all fields, including energy and fighting terrorism.

After their second tripartite meeting since November, leaders of the three countries said their cooperation aims at strengthening peace and stability in the region.

They issued a joint three-page declaration committing their countries would work together on dealing with all regional and wider issues, including the Middle East and Cyprus problems, two of the longest standing issues.

"The trilateral dialogue and cooperation promotes peace, stability, security and prosperity in the eastern Mediterranean, a cooperation which includes, the areas of politics, the economy, trade, tourism and energy," Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said at a joint press conference.

Anastasiades said they reaffirmed a shared conviction that the discovery of significant hydrocarbons reserves "can and must act as a catalyst for broader co-operation on a regional level, contributing to regional stability."

"At the same time, we reiterated that the dialogue and co-operation among the three nations is not directed at any third country. On the contrary, it serves as a model for similar co-operation with all the nations of the region," he added.

His remarks were aimed at reassuring Turkey that the tripartite cooperation is not aimed at cutting it out of regional cooperation.

Turkey, which occupies the northern part of Cyprus since 1974, reacting to a coup by Greek army officers, is objecting to Cyprus exploiting rich undersea natural gas deposits, without first agreeing with Turkish Cypriots on the allocation of the proceeds.

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he agreed with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi to start consultations on establishing the maritime boundaries of the two countries in areas where they will not meet Turkish objections.

"We agreed on further consultations for defining our sea zones wherever that is deemed necessary, and obviously there where it does not require an understanding and cooperation with third countries," he said.

This was a direct reference to a long standing dispute between Greece and Turkey over land, air, sea and sea-floor borders in parts of the Aegean Sea and further south.

Turkey does not accept a provision of UNCLOS that islands have a continental shelf.

Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, has marked its economic zone first with Egypt and then with Israel and Lebanon, defying Turkish objections. However, Lebanon has not ratified the agreement yet.

In his own remarks on the tripartite declaration, Al-Sissi said it is aimed at making the participating nations "the natural gateway for boosting cooperation between Africa and Europe."

The declaration expressed support for the solution of the Middle East problem and the Cyprus issue in line with United Nations resolutions.

It also said the three countries supported the fight in Iraq and Syria against the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and called for support to regional countries which suffer from the spill-over effects of the fighting.

It further supported 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 Communique" and expressed concern over the deterioration of the security situation in Libya.

The three countries said they decided to consider practical steps to face the problem of rising immigration from troubled countries and the stemming of terrorism, especially by the forces of ISIL.

They pledged to cooperate on counter-terrorism measures, including the exchange information and the joint combating of terrorism and violent extremism.