Bilateral framework inked with UK

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss signed a memorandum of understanding on the UK-Greece Strategic Bilateral Framework in London Monday.

The memorandum covers a total of 12 areas (foreign and regional policy, defense cooperation, trade and investment, digitization, tourism, maritime affairs, health, education, research and innovation and culture, law enforcement, immigration and the climate crisis).

According to the memorandum, the ambassadors of Greece and the United Kingdom in London and Athens, respectively, will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the bilateral agreements included in it. 

The signing of the memorandum, as Kathimerini had already revealed in mid-October, is seen as a confirmation of the political will for cooperation between Greece and the UK after Brexit. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit London next month to further promote bilateral relations.

“The discussions were extremely important. We were also able to see together the problems we face with the Cyprus issue, the problems in the Eastern Mediterranean, the problems of the implementation of the Law of the Sea,” Dendias said after the meeting. The UK is one of the three guarantor powers for Cyprus, along with Greece and Turkey. 

Dendias added that the purpose of the agreement is, among other things, to prove that the UK’s exit from the EU “does not in any way” mean a reduction in its relations with Greece. 

“On the contrary, it is an opportunity for closer, deeper, more sincere bilateral relations,” he said.

Dendias also met with Wendy Morton, parliamentary under-secretary of state for the European neighborhood and the Americas. 

According to sources, UK officials elaborated their proposal for a relaxed federation on the island, to overcome the long-standing impasse. The Greek side stressed that any agreement on the Cyprus issue should be within the parameters defined by the United Nations.