Greece and the United Kingdom both exercise their foreign policy based on International Law, stated Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias from London, where he met with his British counterparts on Tuesday.
“Both countries comply with our contractual obligations arising from International Law (…), therefore we expect our neighbors to do the same”, he noted.
The minister was speaking after meetings with British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs Dominic Raab, and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for the European Neighborhood & the Americas Wendy Morton.
Dendias briefed Raab and Morton on the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, before noting that Greece expects the United Kingdom, “as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and given its significant abilities, to contribute in creating in the Eastern Mediterranean a framework of implementation for the rules of International Law and of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” which the UK has signed.
As both Greece and the UK are guarantor powers, Dendias said he discussed the Cyprus issue at length with British diplomats. They too, he said, share Greece’s stance on the matter, which calls for a “bizonal, bicommunal federation based on the conclusions of the UN Security Council, and which must also be compatible with European Law.”
Finally, Dendias mentioned that discussions also focused on bilateral cooperation of the two countries in the post-Brexit era, “to establish a strategic partnership” between Greece and the United Kingdom, which have traditionally been allies in all conflicts the last 200 years.
