UAE, Cyprus sign military cooperation deal

13 Jan 2021; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates and Cyprus yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen mutual cooperation on the military and defence levels.

UAE Minister of State for Defence, Mohammed Al-Bawardi, said in a statement that the agreement was signed in a "virtual meeting" with his Cyprus counterpart, Charalambos Petrides. "The agreement affirms the depth of our strategic relations with Cyprus," Al-Bawardi was quoted by the official WAM as saying.

On his part, Petrides said that the MoU was a result of a "fruition of excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and our like-mindedness on an array of international and regional issues."

"We consider this MoU as a step towards developing a long term, sustained and robust defence partnership between Cyprus and the UAE," he said on Twitter.