President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday said that “we are proud of Cyprus’ Maronite community” while welcoming a delegation from the community, led by its outgoing non-voting representative in parliament Yiannakis Moussas, to the presidential palace.

He began his address by thanking Moussas “on behalf of the government and of the state, and also personally, for the cooperation we have had”, and to this end, highlighted the fact that “no matter how many years pass, I will not forget that we reopened the [Kormakitis] nursery school after 25 years”.

“We had said this before the [2023 presidential] election, we changed the resettlement plans by significantly increasing the number [of people moving to , compensation for the floods which occurred in Kormakitis, churches, so many things that we have done,” he said.

He added, “we are proud of Cyprus’ Maronite community, for its contribution to the political, economic, and social life in the country”, and said that he hopes this cooperation continues after the forthcoming parliamentary elections, when the Maronite Cypriot community will elect a replacement for Moussas.

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“We will continue to cooperate, of course, you know these issues very well. We are here and this cooperation will continue,” he said.

Moussas, meanwhile, said that Christodoulides’ election as president in 2023 was “historic for the conditions of Cyprus”, and said that with Christodoulides previously having served as foreign minister and government spokesman under his predecessor Nicos Anastasiades, “ours is a relationship which goes back [and] has depth”.

“I am very happy because, reviewing this relationship, I found that a lot of things happened, and a lot of things happened in a short period of time. That is why they happened very noticeably,” he said.

Those achievements, he added, included that “the infrastructure in our villages … has improved”, as well as a “drastic increase” in the number of Maronite Cypriots moving to traditionally Maronite villages in the north thanks to increased subsidies and incentives offered to them by the government.

“You know very well that without our villages, we have no hope of surviving,” he said.

On this matter, he said that Christodoulides was “the first president to raise the issue of our other two villages, the garrisoned villages of Ayia Marina and Asomatos, and for putting the issue on the table for talks”, with both villages, located east of Morphou, having historically been Maronite villages but having since 1974 fallen within the bounds of Turkish military bases.

He also thanked Christodoulides for attending Maronite events, before then praising his “exceptional support for Lebanon and President [Joseph] Aoun”.

Christodoulides said of his relationship with Lebanon and Aoun that “you know how close I am” to both, that “we are lucky to have President Aoun in Lebanon”, and that “we are working together to address the country’s challenges”.

“Lebanon is the closest country to Cyprus and sometimes, in discussions with my friend Joseph Aoun, we say that a bridge is needed to connect the two countries. In addition to our bilateral support, we are doing our utmost within the European Union so that the EU can effectively support Lebanon,” he said.

He then expressed pride that “I was the one who invited” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Lebanon when she first visited the country in 2024, and also pointed out that Aoun had travelled to Cyprus last month to attend the informal European Council summit which took place in Nicosia.

“One of the most important results of our discussions was Cyprus’ proposal to start negotiations between the EU and Lebanon for a strategic, comprehensive agreement, because we, the EU, have a responsibility to support the efforts,” he said.

At the end of the meeting, Christodoulides was awarded the ‘Golden Cedar’, the highest honour awarded by the Maronite Cypriot community.

Moussas said that the honour had been bestowed unto Christodoulides “for the close cooperation over the years” between Christodoulides and the community.

“We have achieved a great deal. The community feels that the president of the republic, and his wife, by its side, and as a sign of our appreciation for you and in recognition of your valuable contribution to our community, which certainly does not end here, we award you this honour,” he said.

He added that the award “symbolises the historical origin of the Maronites, which is Lebanon”, and also reflects Christodoulides’ “exceptional efforts to support and assist the long-suffering Lebanon and its president”.