The Minister of Agriculture,Rural Development and Environment Minister Costas Kadis went to Larnaca airport at around 1:00 pm where he said goodbye and thanked the crews of the firefighting aircraft that arrived[/B] from [/B]Israel[/B] and helped extinguish the fire in occupied Kantara.
In a statement to CNA, Mr. Kadis said that "I would like to express our pleasure and gratitude to Israel and the air crews who responded immediately after the call for help made by the Cyprus Government and contributed in a very substantial way to extinguishing the fire in occupied Kandara."
He added that "according to information, the situation was very difficult and both Israeli and Republican aircraft played a very important role in containing the fire."
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"We are always ready to contribute whenever our country needs it, since our homeland is not limited only to the free part of Cyprus," he noted.
Mr. Kadis also said that "the Republic of Cyprus could have assisted in the efforts to extinguish the fire in occupied Kandara with ground forces, but we were not asked to do so, despite the fact that we were informed that there was such a willingness."
The Agriculture Minister expressed the belief that "through these actions, the cooperation between Cyprus and Israel is strengthened, since the two countries face the same risks. Last year we sent our own aircraft to deal with similar situations in Israel."
In response to a question, Kadis said that the crews of the transport plane and the two fire-fighting aircraft number more than ten people.
He also noted that the crews of the aircraft "indicated their willingness, whenever needed, to help, expressing the wish that this would not be necessary. We also expressed our own willingness to help Israel, if necessary" in such cases.
The Agriculture Minister also revealed to Cypriots that "I am going to Israel at the beginning of July and one of the topics of discussion I will have with my counterpart, the Environment Minister, is to find ways of strengthening relations between the two countries in the area of cooperation in dealing with forest fires."
It is noted that the Agriculture Minister was accompanied at Larnaca airport by Director of the Forestry Department Haralambos Alexandrou.
It will be recalled that the transport aircraft arrived yesterday at Larnaca airport from Israel on Thursday morning, June 23, while the two firefighting aircraft arrived at around eleven o'clock in the morning.
Source: KYPE
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