The 5th Cyprus-Greece-Armenia Trilateral Meeting on Diaspora Issues took place today in Patras, in the presence of the Commissioner of the Presidency, Mr.Fotis Fotiou, on behalf of the Cypriot side, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, responsible for Hellenes Abroad, Mr. Mr. Andreas Katsaniotis, Minister of State of Greece for Diaspora Affairs, on behalf of the Greek side and Mr. Zareh Sinanyan, High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia, on behalf of the Armenian side.
At the end of the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation on Diaspora issues was signed between the three countries.
Following the meeting, the Commissioner of the Presidency, Mr. Fotis Fotiou, stated: "It is with great pleasure that I am here today in the Achaic capital, with my friend Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for Hellenism Abroad Mr. Andreas Katsaniotis and my friend High Commissioner for Diaspora Issues of Armenia Mr. Zareh Sinanyan for the 5th trilateral meeting between Cyprus, Greece and Armenia on Diaspora issues. We especially thank the Greek side and our friend the Deputy Minister for the hospitality and the excellent organization of this trilateral meeting.
The three countries are united by many things, such as history, common struggles for vindication as well as the challenges they have to face. Cypriots, Greeks and Armenians can work together and make full use of the potential of our expatriates and the organized groups of our Diaspora.
Turkey continues to refuse to accept the Republic of Cyprus' proposal for an MoU and continues its violations in the enclosed area of Varosha, which violate the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
The Turkish Cypriot side should return to negotiations to resume the talks from where they were suspended in Crans Montana in place of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions for a bizonal bicommunal federation zone with political equality as outlined in the relevant UN resolutions.
We had a productive and interesting meeting during which specific issues concerning the Diaspora of our three countries were discussed.
The three countries have very strong Diasporas in very important countries such as the United States, France, England and Australia. We will activate, through this cooperation, the organised groups of our Diasporas in order to bring them closer together and to promote where and how the interests of our three countries should be promoted.
Of particular importance is the young generation of our expatriates, who are the future of our Diaspora, the future leaders of our organisations, and we want to bring them together and introduce them to the history, culture and traditions of each country. It is for this reason that various actions and events are promoted at the trilateral level.
Today we had the pleasure to sign the Memorandum of Cooperation on Diaspora Issues, through which the deepening of cooperation between the three countries will be achieved and the very good Cyprus-Greece-Armenia relations will be further strengthened. The signing of the Memorandum will specify further joint actions of our Organizations, our youth on issues of culture, traditions and even exchange of best practices and know-how.
We also agreed to hold a photo exhibition in Cyprus on the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the genocide of the Pontians.
We also agreed to hold a photo exhibition in Cyprus on the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the Pontian Genocide.
At the same time, we have agreed to implement various activities with the participation of the Diaspora of the three countries such as the 3+1 cultural event in Paris, as well as the organization of a joint youth visit to the three countries.
Finally, I would like to thank once again my counterparts for the excellent cooperation and I look forward to further strengthening it."
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