Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos began his first official visit to India on Thursday, aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and monitoring progress on the Cyprus-India Cooperation Roadmap 2025-2029.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in a post on platform X, mentioned the “warm welcome” extended to the Cypriot foreign minister, noting that the visit provides an “opportunity to assess progress and deepen Comprehensive Bilateral Cooperation”.
The High Commission of India in the Republic of Cyprus also welcomed the meeting in a post on X, saying, “We look forward to productive engagements over the coming days and deeper ties between our peoples and nations”.
During his stay in New Delhi, Kombos will meet with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and is scheduled to deliver a speech at Sapru House to an institutional audience of diplomats and analysts.
The talks will focus on:
- upgrading economic and trade relations,
- cooperation in defence, technology, education and innovation,
- and the Cyprus issue.
The Indian Foreign Minister publicly reaffirmed India’s firm position in favour of the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, emphasising support for a bizonal, bicommunal federation solution with political equality, in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
Kombos stated, “I want to assure you that we will continue to work towards further strengthening EU-India relations at all levels; not only in the political field but also regarding the Free Trade Agreement, which is under negotiation”.
Referring to terrorism, he emphasised, “We fully agree with the approach that there is no other way to address terrorism than a zero-tolerance policy. And this position applies not only to terrorists but also to those who support or finance them.”
In a separate reference, he stressed the importance of credibility in international relations: “It is true that there are many challenges. In periods like today, words like ‘trust’, ‘friendship’ and ‘close cooperation’ are not often used with real meaning. However, we mean them”.
The visit is part of the broader momentum in Nicosia-New Delhi relations, which strengthened after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Cyprus in June.
A Joint Declaration was adopted then, describing the relationship between the two countries as “strategic and forward-looking”, at a time when Cyprus and India emphasise common values: democracy, multilateralism, rule of law and stability.
Against the backdrop of Cyprus assuming the EU Council Presidency in early 2026, both sides committed to working towards completing the EU-India Free Trade Agreement by the end of 2025, which they characterise as being of “strategic and economic importance”.
