Military personnel and diplomats from eighteen countries take part in an exercise that will be carried out in four phases, offshore and onshore Cyprus and in the country`s airspace.
The first phase of “Argonaftis 2015” exercise, started on Monday.
The exercise is organised by the Defence Ministry with the participation of the National Guard, the Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, the Civil Defence, the Police and departments of other Ministries.
Deputy head of the Civil Defence in Larnaca, Chrysilios Chrysiliou said the scenario of the exercise featured the evacuation of civilians from another country in a crisis. Two hundred diplomats and members of the armed forces, as well as numerous services of the Republic such as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defence and Justice take part in the exercise, he added.
He clarified that Cyprus is not carrying out the exercise but is just supporting it.
Among the 18 countries that take part are the US, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain and Germany.
Canadian lieutenant commander John Nicholson, one of the three coordinators for this exercise, said this is “a very important exercise”.
“It`s an opportunity to bring all these countries together, for us to communicate, to work together and to learn lessons so that we can be better in case we ever have to do a Non Combated Evacuation Operation” he added.
The Non Combated Evacuation Operation Coordination Group meets biannually. Nicosia will host the meetings this year, from the 27th to the 29th of May, he said.
