I had, a while ago, an extremely constructive meeting, which was conducted in very friendly atmosphere with the Prime Minister of India Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The bonds that connect Cyprus and India are characterized by mutual feelings of friendship, trust, understanding and assistance in all sectors.

As tangible examples, I mention the excellent cooperation of our two countries for decades now, in different International Organisations and fora, such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Additionally, it must be stressed that India has always been one of the stable supporters of our national cause and our efforts to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem, based on Security Council resolutions.

As a result, our side is deeply grateful to India for this honest and stable support that it has offered and continues to offer. We, as Cypriots, can state that within the framework of the reform of the Security Council currently under discussion, support that countries such as India are entitled to become a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council.

With my friend, the Prime Minister of India, I reviewed our bilateral relations and especially ways for further strengthening and developing those relations in all sectors. We also went into the review of international matters of mutual interest. We focused on matters that are currently in the center of international attention, such as terrorism, Middle East. We also reviewed the developments of Cyprus΄ EU accession course and the Cyprus problem, in light of the meetinhg we had with the UN Secretary-General in New York.

Finally, I would like to tell you that three bilateral Agreements and two Memoranda of Cooperation have been signed, as follows:

A.   Agreement on Cooperation in Public Health and Medical Sciences
B.   Agreement on Cooperation in the fields of Posts and Electronic Communications
C.   Executive Programme on Cultural, Educational and Scientific Cooperation
D.   Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Science and Technology
E.   Memorandum of Understanding in Information Technology and Services

These Agreements and the Memorada will further upgrade the bilateral relations between our two countries and the cooperation between them in important sectors of modern society.

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