Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides will pay consecutive working visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, it was announced on Sunday.

According to a press release issued by the foreign ministry Christodoulides will travel on Sunday evening to Abu Dhabi where he will have a private meeting on Monday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Discussions are expected to focus, among others, on issues related to the bilateral relations of Cyprus and the UAE, the Cyprus problem, the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf region, regional cooperation and security, as well as the EU-UAE relations.

During his visit to Abu Dhabi, Christodoulides will also meet, among others, with the Speaker of the Federal National Council, Saqr Ghobash, with whom he will discuss regional and international issues of common interest.

On Tuesday, the foreign minister will visit Riyadh, where he will meet with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, with whom he will participate in expanded deliberations. The two sides are expected to discuss, inter alia, concrete ways of further enhancing the bilateral cooperation between Cyprus and Saudi Arabia, the Cyprus problem, the situation in the broader region after the latest developments, priorities and issues of common interest and the relations of the EU with the Saudi Arabia Kingdom.

Christodoulides is to also meet with the Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Dr. Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, with whom he will have the opportunity to exchange views on the situation and the prospects for cooperation in the broader Gulf region, in light of the recent Al-Ula Agreement.