The head of state will be accompanied on his official two-day visit to Cyprus by his wife Sirje Karis, MP and chair of the Estonia-Cyprus Parliamentary Friendship Group Kristo Enn Vaga and a business delegation comprising representatives of Admirals Group, Amisco, Datel, DefSecIntel, Saaresalu, the Port of Sillamäe, TalTech Kuressaare College and the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Tomorrow, President Karis will be meeting with his fellow head of state Nikos Christodoulides and Cypriot parliamentary speaker Annita Demetriou. They will be discussing Russia’s war of aggression, support for Ukraine and security concerns in regions close to both Estonia and Cyprus. They will also be exploring ways in which their two countries can work more closely together, for example in the digital and economic spheres. This year marks the 20th anniversary of both Estonia and Cyprus’ accession to the European Union.
Later tomorrow, President Karis will be opening an Estonia-Cyprus business forum and speaking about enhanced economic cooperation at a reception being held by the Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The head of state will also be visiting the University of Cyprus, where he will give a talk on Estonia’s digital society and economy and on the foreign-policy and security challenges in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea regions.
On Thursday, President Karis will be meeting with UN Special Representative and Head of the Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Colin Stewart and visiting the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, whose objective is to recover, identify and return to their families the remains of those who went missing during intercommunal fighting on the island 50 years ago.
The head of state will also be visiting the Cyprus Institute, which is a non-profit research and educational institution with a strong scientific and technological orientation. There he will be given an insight into the institute’s laboratories, which are involved in drone surveillance and the protection of cultural heritage.
At the end of his visit, President Karis will tour the Cyprus Center for Land Open Seas and Port Security or CYCLOPS. A state-of-the-art training facility which is unique in Europe, it primarily trains experts from countries in the region on how to enforce sanctions, guard their borders, detect contraband, identify biological and nuclear weapons and much more.
During the visit, Sirje Karis will be meeting with Cypriot first lady Philippa Karsera, with whom she will visit the rehabilitation centre of the Christos Stelios Ioannou Foundation, the neonatal ward of Archbishop Makarios III Hospital and the Cyprus Museum.
The head of state will be arriving back in Estonia late on Thursday evening.
