Coordination between Greece and Cyprus is more necessary than ever amid growing geopolitical instability, former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday after meeting President Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace.

Tsipras said the discussions focused on regional developments, the Cyprus issue and the ‘close relations’ which existed between the governments of Greece and Cyprus during his time in office.

He said the two sides had worked together on efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, referring to his tenure as Prime Minister during the failed Crans-Montana negotiations in 2017.

“Today, in a time of intense geopolitical crises, this coordination between Athens and Nicosia is more necessary than ever,” Tsipras said, adding that support for Cyprus remains essential in safeguarding the Republic’s sovereign rights under international law.

He described Greece and Cyprus as “forces of peace and stability” and said both countries must continue to defend international law as the foundation for protecting their interests.

“International law is what can defend our vital interests and only that,” he said, adding that states should oppose attempts to impose “the rule of the strong” over established legal principles.

Tsipras is visiting Cyprus for the first time since establishing his new political movement, the Greek Left Alliance (Elas).

He is due to participate in the third international conference organised by the Alexis Tsipras Institute in cooperation with the Prometheus Institute, which takes place in Nicosia on Wednesday.

The former Greek leader also referred to developments concerning the Cyprus issue, saying he and Christodoulides agreed that efforts should continue to restart negotiations from the point at which they were suspended.

“We agreed that every effort should be made to restart the talks from where they left off, based on the Guterres framework, for a just and sustainable solution to the Cyprus problem for the benefit of the entire Cypriot people, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” he said.

Addressing wider regional developments, Tsipras expressed hope that tensions in the Middle East would ease and that diplomatic efforts underway would produce a lasting outcome.

“I wish and hope that the agreement to be signed on Friday in Geneva will be lasting and definitive, because this illegal, irrational and unnecessary war must stop,” he said.

Asked about claims made by former Akel secretary general Andros Kyprianou regarding remarks allegedly made by former president Nicos Anastasiades concerning the profits generated by the citizenship-by-investment programme, Tsipras declined to comment.

“I have come here to discuss politics. The parapolitical is another discussion that does not concern me,” he said.