President Christodoulides will attend the Gaza ceasefire agreement signing ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday after receiving invitations from the United States and Egypt.
Cyprus will participate in Gaza’s reconstruction phase, Christodoulides said on Sunday.
The US and Egypt invited 23 states and three institutions to attend the ceremony. Seven of the invited states are EU members.
The participating states, beyond the US and Egypt, are Qatar, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Indonesia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Bahrain, Kuwait, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Azerbaijan, Spain, Iran, Japan, Armenia, El Salvador and Hungary.
The EU will participate with the President of the European Council, alongside the Secretary-General of the Arab League and the UN Secretary-General.
Christodoulides thanked Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday for inviting Cyprus. “I consider the invitation—taking into account that only a small number of countries have been invited along with institutions—as recognition of the Republic of Cyprus’s role in the region, recognition of what we have done throughout this period, but also as an indication of what the international community expects from us,” he said.
Cyprus has operated the Amalthea humanitarian corridor to Gaza in recent months, cooperating with the US, Egypt, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the UAE.
“We have a specific plan that we will present at the related ceremony that will take place in Egypt, regarding Gaza’s reconstruction. We want Cypriot companies to have a role in the country’s reconstruction. We want, as the Republic of Cyprus, to have a role in security matters,” Christodoulides said.
The president said Cyprus can inspect aid entering Gaza through the CYCLOPS Centre in Larnaca. “I spoke with Israel’s prime minister about the fact that whatever enters Gaza must be checked beforehand, and the Republic of Cyprus is the country that, through the CYCLOPS Centre in Larnaca, we are in a position to do this,” he said.
Asked whether Cyprus becomes further established through its participation, Christodoulides said: “We had the Amalthea corridor, we had the evacuation of populations from the region’s countries, and I consider the invitation is a clear indication of recognition of this role of the Republic of Cyprus, but also what we can do from now on.”
Government Spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said the summit will begin with Egyptian President al-Sisi receiving the leaders. A family photograph will take place at 15:00 with participating heads of state and government.
The signing ceremony of the Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement for Ending the War in Gaza will follow at 15:05. The summit’s work will begin at 15:15 with the Egyptian president’s opening remarks and the US president’s intervention.
Leaders attending include the presidents of the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, and the heads of the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Christodoulides is accompanied by Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, the Government Spokesman, Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna, the director of the president’s diplomatic office Doros Venezis and service officials.
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