Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Evangelos Venizelos and his counterparts from the Egypt, Sameh Hassan Shoukry and Cyprus, Ioannis Kasoulides, held a trilateral meeting yesterday (29.10) - the third such meeting.

The three officials issued a joint communiqué, in which they "deplored the recent illegal actions perpetrated within Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EΕΖ)," including unauthorised surveys for hydrocarbons by a Turkish vessel, and called on Turkey to "cease all seismic survey operations underway within the maritime zones of Cyprus and refrain from similar activity in the future." They urge Turkey to "respect the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Cyprus Republic over its EΕΖ."

One of the main purposes of the meeting was to prepare a Cyprus, Egypt and Greece trilateral meeting to take place at Heads of State/Government level on November 8 in Cairo. Issues of mutual interest, including recent developments on the Cyprus issue, the political transition in Egypt, and the regional impact of developments in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, ISIL/extremism threat, Libya, Gaza, MEPP) were also discussed.

See also Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Joint Communiqué (29.10.2014)