China and Japan have contacted Nicosia for the possibility of evacuating their citizens via Cyprus, following the attack on Iran and the volatile situation in the region.
At the same time a meeting take place on Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to determine how many Cypriots, permanent residents and tourists are in countries of the region, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday.
President Christodoulides said in statements to the media that he spoke on Saturday night with the President of the European Commission, the Greek Prime Minister, the President of the United Arab Emirates and today he will have phone conversations with several other EU leaders and leaders of countries in the area.
He reminded that there is an extraordinary EU Council of Foreign Ministers scheduled for this afternoon to discuss the situation.
The President said that Cyprus’ role for the evacuation of foreign citizens is once again recognized internationally.
Responding to a question, he said that the flight cancellations are necessary due to the unstable situation, and added that authorities also have requests for the parking of commercial aircrafts on the island.
He reiterated that the Republic of Cyprus, as always, responds to this humanitarian role, which is internationally recognized, with deeds and not just words.
Responding to another question, he said that a meeting was scheduled to take place on Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of the heads of Cyprus’ diplomatic missions, and one of the issues is to have a clear picture of how many Cypriot nationals are in countries in the region.
He recalled that since Saturday, the government has been appealing to Cypriots in these countries to contact our diplomatic missions. He explained that there is knowledge regarding the permanent residents of Cypriot origin in these countries, but there might be Cypriot tourists as well and therefore the meeting would determine the situation.
By this afternoon, he noted, we will have this overall picture and the total number.
