President Nikos Christodoulides and new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham agreed to hold their first meeting in September, during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, in a phone call on Monday morning in which Christodoulides congratulated Burnham on taking office.
During the call, the two leaders discussed the historic and multidimensional bilateral relations between Cyprus and the UK, which have entered a particularly close and substantive phase in recent years, as well as prospects for deepening cooperation further in key areas of shared interest.
They paid particular attention to EU-UK relations. Christodoulides noted that strengthening those ties had been one of the priorities of the Cypriot presidency of the Council of the European Union, underlining the strategic importance of a stronger, closer relationship between London and Brussels. He reiterated Cyprus’s readiness to continue playing a constructive role in deepening EU-UK cooperation.
On the Cyprus problem, Christodoulides repeated that resolving it remains his top priority. He briefed Burnham on the ongoing efforts of the UN Secretary-General and on the importance of the current moment for resuming substantive negotiations within the agreed framework, as set out in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. He highlighted the particularly important role the UK can play, as a guarantor power, permanent member of the UN Security Council and penholder on Cyprus-related resolutions, in helping restart negotiations from where they were interrupted.
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional developments and the situation in the Middle East, and agreed to remain in close contact, with a shared will to further deepen cooperation between Cyprus and the UK.
Background
Burnham was elected Labour Party leader on July 17, 2026, and became prime minister three days later, on July 20, succeeding Keir Starmer, who resigned following heavy Labour losses in May’s local elections.
The most significant recent flashpoint in UK-Cyprus relations came in March 2026, when the British sovereign base at RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone strike. On March 1, an Iranian-made Shahed-type drone, launched from Lebanon amid the wider conflict between Iran and Israel and the United States, struck the base, causing limited damage and no casualties. Further drones aimed at Cyprus on March 1 and March 4 were intercepted. Cyprus’s foreign minister, Constantinos Kombos, said the drone was Iranian-manufactured.
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