The Cypriot government will inform the European Commission of its intention to participate in the European Union’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe (Safe) common procurement instrument before the end of this month, the defence ministry’s procurement director Panayiotis Hadjipavlis said on Friday.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that following a meeting “a few days ago”, President Nikos Christodoulides “took the decision in principle” for Cyprus to participate in the programme.

As such, he said, officials from the EU’s directorate-general for the defence industry and space (DG-Defis) will visit Cyprus on July 29, “to inform us in detail about the regulations and how we will proceed”.

“We are currently preparing our formal intention to participate so that it can be submitted in a timely manner,” he said, adding that Cyprus’ “ecosystem of defence industry companies” has been informed of the decision, with further meetings on the matter with local defence companies set to take place in the coming days.

He went on to say that the “next step” for the Safe instrument is that the EU’s 27 member states will be expected to submit a detailed implementation plan by the end of November, including details of the specific programmes under the Safe umbrella in which each member state wishes to participate.

“These plans will then be approved by the EU, and then the procedures for disbursing the money will begin,” he said.

He then said the government is at present “in contact with very friendly member states”, including Greece, over the matter, “so that we can find common programmes and thus proceed with joint procurement”.

He also congratulated Cyprus’ permanent representation in Brussels and the defence ministry at large for the “huge effort” both had put in, “so that we can not only promote the economic and industrial interests of the Cypriot defence industry but also protect national interests”.

Asked about the amount of money Cyprus will request, he said he cannot yet disclose this, “because there are still important efforts about which the commission must inform us”, including the interest rate on any given loan Cyprus takes under the instrument.

This rate, he said, is something the commission has not yet decided.

He did, however, note that other issues will be “clarified” when officials from DG-Defis visit Cyprus later this month.

In addition, he said, “the commission will dedicate specific officers to each member state, so that the plan we will formulate will be in line with the commission’s criteria and thus submitted correctly, approved, and implemented”.

The Safe programme foresees that EU member states and allies will join forces to carry out “common procurements” for military hardware, with it envisioned that at procurements will be carried out by at least two participating countries on any given occasion.

All EU member states qualify for the Safe programme, as well as Ukraine, the four European Economic Area States – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – and as six other countries which have signed common defence agreements with the EU – Albania, Japan, Moldova, North Macedonia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, which signed an agreement with the EU in May.