Britain and Cyprus pledged on Tuesday to boost ties during a visit by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in an endorsement of the pro-west tilt the Mediterranean island has taken since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer inspect a guard of honor during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus December 10, 2024. Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Britain and Cyprus pledged on Tuesday to boost ties during a visit by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in an endorsement of the pro-west tilt the Mediterranean island has taken since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A former British colony, Cyprus has worked hard to shake off a reputation as a haven for Russian businesses and light-touch regulation, and is aligned with the west over Russia and amid growing turmoil in the Middle East.
Starmer, on a multi-day visit to the Middle East, was in Cyprus on Tuesday, the first visit of a British prime minister to the former colony since Edward Heath in 1971.
After a short welcoming ceremony, Starmer told Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides he felt privileged to be there.
Christodoulides was received at the White House earlier this year in a first by a Cypriot president in almost three decades.
Britain has offered expertise for the island to create a sanctions unit, which was a focus of discussions. It still plays a role in Cypriot affairs as one of three guarantor powers of Cypriot independence, along with Turkey and Greece.
Starmer visited service personnel and families at RAF Akrotiri, a British military base on the southern coast.
Tuesday's visit drew criticism from breakaway North Cyprus, a statelet recognised only by Ankara, for ignoring the Turkish Cypriots as the other main party in the Cyprus conflict.
Reporting by Michele Kambas
Israelis will on Wednesday mark three years since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a military assault that destroyed much of Gaza, where conditions remain dire despite a year-old ceasefire that is meant to halt the war for good.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Ankara and Istanbul from October 21 to 23, his office said on Tuesday, in what will be the first dedicated bilateral visit to NATO ally Turkey by a Canadian leader.
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