Cypriot president to discuss bilateral cooperation, relations between Brussels, Moscow during visit to Russia

NICOSIA, October 23. /TASS/. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will begin an official visit to Russia on Monday, during which he is scheduled to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The visit will last until October 24. The Cypriot president said in an interview with TASS that at the upcoming meetings, a number of agreements were planned to be signed, which would particularly concern maritime transport, international road transport, communications and information technologies. Besides, the parties will also touch upon bilateral economic cooperation and interaction in legal assistance matters. The meeting between Anastasiades and Medvedev will be held on Monday, while his talks with Putin will take place on Tuesday. Expectations from visit In his interview with TASS, the Cypriot president said that he expected "to have full-fledged discussions with the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, on several bilateral issues of mutual interest and importance." Anastasiades also said that he would "also have the opportunity to brief both the President and the Prime Minister on the most recent developments regarding our efforts to reach a comprehensive, just and viable settlement of the Cyprus Problem." "The current and future status of the relations between the EU and Russia will be also a topic… to discuss," the Cypriot president said adding that "on the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the developments in Syria it is equally important to reflect and exchange views." Bilateral relations Anastasiades made his first visit to Russia in February 2015, holding talks with Putin. Moscow and Nicosia have been maintaining contacts in various spheres and regularly exchanging views on bilateral and regional issues. Tourism is one of the main aspects of economic cooperation between the two countries. More than 500,000 Russians visit Cyprus every year. In 2016, the Russian tourist inflow reached its peak in 2016, when a total of 781,000 tourists visited the country. However, according to the Cypriot statistics service, this year will not beat this record. Read more