President Nikos Christodoulides will hold bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other high-profile international figures on Wednesday, with a number of famous faces set to attend the day’s opening ceremony for Cyprus’ six-month term as the holder of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency.

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday that the meeting with Zelenskiy comes “at a time when European support for Ukraine remains crucial”.

The meeting, he said, will take place “with an emphasis on efforts for peace, the maintenance of international legitimacy and the protection of the fundamental principles which constitute the European project”, and that these are “principles to which the Republic of Cyprus remains firmly committed”.

He said that this is because Cyprus “knows first-hand the consequences of the invasion and ongoing occupation”.

In addition to his meeting with Zelenskiy, Christodoulides will also meet European Council president Antonio Costa, with Letymbiotis saying that meeting will be geared towards “coordinating the work on the European priorities” of the coming six months.

This, he said, will come “within the framework of the role of the presidency of the Council [of the EU] to ensure the cohesion of the union in the face of international challenges”, and will aim at “strengthening the strategic autonomy, security and resilience of Europe”.

Christodoulides will also meet Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Letymbiotis said the pair will “focus on stability in the eastern Mediterranean, regional developments and the strengthening of EU and southern neighbourhood cooperation channels”.

As well as those three meetings, he will also meet Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi.

Letymbiotis also said that after the day’s opening ceremony, Christodoulides will host an official banquet for the heads of the attending international delegations, with Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid set to be present.

On Saturday, spokeswoman for Cyprus’ presidency Stella Michael had said that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Gulf cooperation council secretary-general Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwim and Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit will also attend the opening ceremony.

She said the ceremony will be an “emblematic event” and that it will come at the end of a “big day in terms of contacts”.

“One of the messages we are sending with the presences in Cyprus is how Cyprus can also function as a bridge between the European Union and the countries of the region,” she said.

As such, she added, Cyprus aims to use the opening ceremony to “highlight how the history of Cyprus goes from antiquity to the present day, through its culture and history”.

She added that it also wishes to exhibit the island’s “strong ties” with the EU, and how “this process has culminated through the accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004 and how it essentially moves within the united European family based on European principles and values”.

Last week, Deputy Minister of Culture Vasiliki Kassianidou had said that “over 100 Cypriot artists and cultural professionals” will take part in the opening ceremony, which has been given the title “memory – present – future”.