Cyprus joined other EU member states as a signatory to a project arrangement led by the European Defence Agency for the collaborative procurement of ammunition, with Defence Minister Michalis Giorgallas attending the ceremony. The project arrangement for the collaborative procurement of ammunition is one of the tracks of the agreement between the EU’s member states that was announced on Monday by High Representative Josep Borrell, which includes the possibility of sending ammunition to Ukraine. Cyprus will not be participating in sending munitions to the country. According to a tweet by the Ministry of Defence, Giorgallas participated in the signing ceremony on Monday, adding that this is ‘a significant milestone for European defence and EU armaments cooperation’. As explained by the European Defence Agency in a press release, the project arrangement is for two separate fast track procedures of two and seven years respectively for collaborative procurement of multiple types of ammunition. So far 17 member states of the EU (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden) as well as Norway have signed. The EDA notes that the project has been agreed to ‘in full respect of sovereign national decisions and without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of any EU Member States’ and that it ‘may be used to replenish Member States’ national stockpiles and/or aid Ukraine’. According to a press release by the Ministry of Defence, while in Brussels Giorgallas participated both in the joint meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers on Monday and in the proceedings of the Schuman Forum on Defence and Security organised by the European External Action Service on Monday and Tuesday. In a statement, the Minister Defence said that during the meeting of the EU’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers, Cyprus reiterated its support to “the rapid implementation of the EU Compass Strategy, which aims to develop a common policy for external defence and security to protect the Member States of the Union” as well as the strengthening of common defence, and therefore participates in relevant joint EU military operations. Regarding his participation in the Schuman Forum, which was attended by representatives of 40 foreign countries and international organisations, the Defence Minister said that the participants noted “the need for all of us to work together to achieve conditions of security and stability, both in the EU and in the rest of the world”. On the sidelines of the conference, the Defence Minister met with counterparts from countries with which Cyprus is implementing defence agreements. Giorgallas said that the meetings that particularly stood out were those with “the Deputy Minister of Defence of Egypt, the Chief of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia and of course the meeting with our friend the Minister of Defence of Serbia with whom we confirmed the excellent level of defence cooperation between Cyprus and Serbia’. In addition, the Defence Minister met with his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos, with whom he agreed to meet in Athens on the 24th of March.
Source: Cyprus News Agency