Inaugural lecture by Cyprus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides

​The lecture was entitled ‘Effective Multilateralism for Regional Stability: Cyprus’ Vision for the Eastern Mediterranean region’. In his lecture, Christodoulides laid out the present-day challenges to multilateralism in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and he presented the vision of Cyprus for overcoming these challenges. The Minister emphasizes a regional approach to effective multilateralism – using the term minilateralism – carrying great promise for building peace and security in the region. Within minilateralism, working in various trilateral partnerships – as when Cyprus engages in processes with Greece and Israel, with Greece and Egypt or with Greece and Lebanon – plays a major role. Christodoulides also highlighted how Cyprus is uniquely well-placed in pursuing such a vision, as both a member state of the European Union and a country that is geographically and politically close to the Middle East. Hence, the various trilateral partnerships which Cyprus engages in can bring the EU and the region closer together.