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It is a pleasure and an honour
being here at the first edition of the French and Cypriot Security and
Defence Workshop.
At the outset, I want to
congratulate the Cyprus Association of Research and Innovation Enterprises,
the French Maritime Industry Group (GICAN), the French Direction for
International Security Cooperation (DCIS) and the Embassy of France to Cyprus
for making the event a reality.
I also want to extend a warm
welcome to everyone who travelled to Cyprus to participate in this event and
especially to the representatives of all French companies who are present
here today.
This is an important initiative
that paves the way for new avenues of cooperation between our two countries
and advances our ambitious agenda. Cyprus and France have a long-standing and
deeply rooted defence and militaty cooperation.
We consider our defence
partnership with France as a strategic one that still has enormous potential,
as was highlighted by the President of the Republic of Cyprus during his very
forward looking and productive meeting with President Macron on the 3rd of
May in Paris.
And in rightly doing so, our
respective defence industries are already leading the way in harnessing
opportunities for research, technology and innovation. Having in mind that
Cypriot and French companies already work together for EU funded capabilities
projects of approximate worth 150 million Euro, this figure is indicative of
the importance and potential.
Your cooperation and your
partnership have a direct impact on our economies, industries, research and
innovation.
This is why this event, which
aims to bring our respective defence industries closer, is so important. We
need to start thinking about going beyond research projects and
institutionalizing our bilateral defence industrial cooperation.
I would urge all French
companies to take a look in what our local defence industry ecosystem is
doing, in order to identify possible synergies and collaborations.
As the EU now has a very strong
focus on developing European capabilities and promoting defence industrial
cooperation between its member states, events like this one today, serve
exactly this purpose.
Allow me to mention some
important decisions, such as the adoption of the Strategic Compass, the
Versailles Declaration, the European Defence Fund, and the decision for
establishing joint procurement process for defence material.
France has a well-established
and reputable defence industry, one that the Republic of Cyprus has for long
worked with and with which there is mutual trust and confidence.
The Republic of Cyprus has a
growing ecosystem of companies that are active in European defence
capabilities and armaments projects. Last week, at the Athens Defence
Exhibition (DEFEA), we had the pleasure of participating with a number of
Cypriot companies that design and manufacture defence products that are made
in Cyprus. I was thrilled to see the keen interest by visitors and other
companies that showed an interest in what our local industry is doing.
By joining forces, our two
respective industries can harness opportunities that exist in the European
Defence Agency and the European Defence Fund projects.
Therefore, I am certain that
today’s event will bring closer our industries and private sector and
establish important connections that may lead to future collaborative
projects.
That is why the signing of the
Memorandum of Understanding between GICAN and CARIE, later on today, will
mark the beginning of a new era that I am certain will result to more joint
projects, synergies and industrial cooperation, contributing to the
overarching goal of strategic and technological autonomy. I warmly welcome
this development and I congratulate everyone involved.
On a national level, the
Republic of Cyprus is in line and in tune with the global and European trend
for investing more in defence, armaments and capabilities.
Cyprus has significantly
increased its defence spending in the last years and we will maintain this
pace. An important part of our defence spending goes to armaments procurement
as well as into research and innovation.
Allow me to highlight some key
figures:
- Cypriot companies participate
in ten EDIDP projects and 7 EDF projects.
- Cyprus is part of 13 PESCO
projects.
- In addition, the Ministry of
Defence will receive 3 million Euro from the Recovery and Resilience Fund for
funding a number of dual use projects.
Distinguished Participants,
Dear Friends,
We live in an era of
unprecedented challenges. New threats, emerging technologies and Artificial
Intelligence are changing the conduct of warfare.
The Republic of Cyprus will
continue advancing and enlarging its defence partnerships, its bilateral,
trilateral and other multilateral defence and military cooperations, acting
as a pillar of stability, regional cooperation and prosperity.
Thank you very much for your
attention and I wish you every success!
(AP/SCH)
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