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The Minister of Interior Mr. Constantinos Ioannou, during which he was briefed on the mission and work of the Centre.
In his statements after the meeting, Mr Ioannou noted his satisfaction with the high degree of preparedness for dealing with possible man-made and natural crises. Equally important, he said, is "the necessary coordination of the departments or ministries involved that are called upon to manage a crisis". As the Minister of Interior mentioned, the Coordinating Centre "ZENON", which is called upon to manage 25 Plans, also falls under the operational control of the CCMS.
"For us as the Ministry of Interior, the contribution of the CCMS to the management of maritime migrant flows is equally important. As you know, while we have managed to reduce and almost annihilate migrant flows through the Green Line, we have unfortunately seen, since 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza, a large increase in arrivals by sea," Ioannou said. He added that, taking into account the danger and the condition of the boats used by traffickers, the role and readiness of the CEAS to deal with possible search and rescue scenarios is very important.
In response to a question, Ioannou noted that the discussion on migration at EU level is regularly held with our partners in the framework of the Internal Affairs Councils. The Minister said that in the coming weeks he is planning visits to various European states to further promote the Cyprus Government's initiative to reassess the status of Syria, in an effort to designate certain areas of the country as safe, in order to have the option of returning or deporting Syrian nationals back to their country.
Finally, in response to a question on the number of arrivals by sea, the Interior Minister said that this number is constantly changing and that there is a large increase compared to the previous year. "Unfortunately, after 7 October 2023, arrivals by sea have increased substantially", Mr Ioannou concluded.
(MQI)
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