President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will have a second meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday morning to discuss the infrastructure needed for the operation of a humanitarian corridor to Gaza.
The meeting follows an announcement overnight that the US military will build a temporary port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea.
President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union speech that the operation will initially be based in Cyprus.
CyBC’s correspondent in Washington DC said the whole US effort is based on Cyprus’ Amalthea initiative to use the port of Larnaca to get aid to Gaza.
The White House official said that aid would be loaded in Larnaca after being vetted by Israeli officials as there is strong concern from Tel Aviv that weapons or other military equipment that could be used by Hamas might be channelled.
Aid would then be transferred by boat to the floating platform to be built by the US military on a Gaza coast.
The initial aid, the US official added, will be sent through Cyprus with the help of the US military and a coalition of partners and allies and are expected to last several weeks.
Following their meeting, Christodoulides and von der Leyen will visit Larnaca port and the facilities of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) to inspect the existing infrastructure for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
On Thursday evening, President Christodoulides hosted a dinner for von der Leyen at the Presidential Palace.
Meanwhile, announcements are expected within the day on how the Amalthia maritime humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza will operate, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Friday.
Speaking on CyBC radio in the morning, Letymbiotis said an announcement on the operation of the corridor is expected within the next few hours.
Letymbiotis said that the “presence of von der Leyen alone in Cyprus sends messages as to the progress of the Cypriot initiative”.
He added that both the president and von der Leyen are in constant contact with the United States, Israel, the Palestinian authority and international organisations for the implementation of this project.
Communication with America was also taking place during last nights dinner at the presidential palace, the spokesman said regarding von der Leyen’s arrival on Thursday evening.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
Source
