resident Nikos Christodoulides and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “underlined the need” for the ongoing crisis in the Middle East to be de-escalated during a telephone call, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Wednesday.

Letymbiotis said the call had taken place on Tuesday afternoon, and that “the two leaders extensively discussed regional developments and shared their common concern for a wider and uncontrolled escalation of tensions in the conflict.”

Such escalations, they agreed, “may have serious regional implications”.

As a result, Letymbiotis said, “they underlined the need for the crisis to be de-escalated” and also “discussed the efforts being made in this direction, including Egypt’s related efforts with other partners”.

Christodoulides also informed his Egyptian counterpart about the forthcoming summit of the ‘Med9’ – a collective of the European Union’s eight Mediterranean member states and Portugal – in Paphos on Friday.

The meeting will also be attended by King Abdullah II of Jordan, and discussions will, according to Letymbiotis, “concern the developments in the region”.

“The two presidents also confirmed the longstanding excellent relations between the two countries and underlined their commitment to further strengthening bilateral relations between Cyprus and Egypt, and enhancing cooperation in a number of areas including the economy and energy.”

To this end, he said, “reference was also made to the tripartite cooperation with Greece as a means to promote regional cooperation”.

The Med9 leaders’ summit in Paphos will be the first of Cyprus’ presidency of the group and the second to ever be held in Cyprus, with the heads of government of Greece, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, and Portugal all set to descend on the island.