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- Ελληνικά
The President of the Republic, Mr.Nicos Anastasiades, hosted tonight, at the Presidential Palace, an official dinner in honour of the President of Palestine, Mr.Mahmoud Abbas, who is paying an official visit to Cyprus.
In his address to the dinner, President Anastasiades said that "once again I warmly welcome President Mahmoud Abbas and the members of the delegation accompanying him to Cyprus.
Your official visit, Mr. President, following my visit to the State of Palestine in 2015, reflects the solid foundations on which the excellent and long-lasting relationship between our two countries and our peoples is based.
At the same time, today's signing of two Memoranda of Understanding demonstrates not only the continuous development of Cyprus-Palestine relations, but also the common will to further upgrade them, both bilaterally and at the regional and multilateral level.
During my statements to the media today, I referred to the wide range of issues that we discussed with our friend President Abbas, therefore, I will avoid repeating myself.
What I would like to stress, however, is the full convergence of views on the need to collectively address the challenges we face in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, always on the basis of international law, in order to establish a culture of peaceful coexistence and diplomatic resolution of any disputes between the States of the region.
Dear President Abbas, I welcome you once again, expressing my absolute satisfaction that today's consultations have confirmed the common objective of substantially strengthening our relations.
With these thoughts I raise a toast to the health of President Mahmoud Abbas, but also to the health of the Palestinian people and to the friendship between our countries."
For his part, President Abbas, speaking through an interpreter, said, inter alia, that Cyprus and Palestine have excellent relations, noting that his visit to Cyprus is of particular importance for the further strengthening of bilateral relations.
He added that "we are linked by a special relationship which I boast of and this relationship has been strengthened through our multiple meetings over the past years. You are and remain principled friends and continue to support the just cause of our people. You have supported the just demands of our people in international forums, recognized the State of Palestine in order for the Palestinian people to gain their independence and freedom within a state with sovereignty and territory on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. We appreciate this attitude of yours at all times. Peace is our desired goal and objective and in order to achieve peace, international legitimacy and resolutions must be respected and the historical injustice experienced by our people for 74 years must be removed."
He also expressed hope that there will be initiatives to promote peace efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue.
He also expressed gratitude to Cyprus for its political and financial support, noting that Palestine hopes to strengthen bilateral relations and activate the joint inter-ministerial committee to expand the framework of cooperation between the two countries.
Finally, he expressed the desire to convene the trilateral Cyprus-Palestine-Greece Summit as soon as possible.
(PM/MB)
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