President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos paid his first official trip, since taking office, to Cyprus – a tradition followed by every Greek President. Pavlopoulos, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, remarked that the ties between Greece and Cyprus are inextricable and that no crisis will affect them, while the President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, noted that the strong ties between the two countries date back to ancient times.

After their meeting, Pavlopoulos affirmed Greek support for a peace settlement. He said that although Athens supported UN talks to reunite the island, Nicosia had rightly halted negotiations following Ankara’s violation of the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in October last year.

Addressing the Cypriot Parliament, Pavlopoulos noted that Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone is an area protected by European law; any violation of this area is also "a violation of the European Union and European law."