Heydon who was in Cyprus as part of a tour to mark St Patrick’s Day on March 17, told CNA in an interview that he met with Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, Energy Minister Natasa Pilidou,  and Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides, thanking them on behalf of the Irish government for their support in the area of Brexit.

“Another area of similarity between Ireland and Cyprus is the very close bonds we have, we share a common law system, they understand those close connections with Britain and how Brexit has made it more difficult and challenging for us. We share the desire of having a close working relationship between the EU and the UK after Brexit, we share those goals and we work together as part of that in the EU,” he said.

“Mindful of the very difficult international circumstances, we do this very much in solidarity, sending a message of the importance of the unity in the European Union which ourselves and Cyprus share”.

Heydon said he had also visited the Irish Police who are part of the United Nations Police force UNPOL, “something we are very proud of”.

“I reiterated to the representatives of the Cypriot government Ireland’s very strong support for the UN mandate here,” Heydon added.

Touching on the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic effects on Europe, the Irish minister said: “The challenges we all face as a result of the conflict pale in significance when we consider what our friends in Ukraine are enduring at present, the awful attack and invasion”.

“There are impacts for all our countries and I discussed that with the ministers today, I am mindful of the impact sanctions and such measures will have on the Cypriot economy as well, but we all agreed that this is the solidarity we should and are showing with the Ukrainian people.”

Heydon said EU countries were happy to stand united and it was a huge opportunity for small countries standing together within the EU, to show solidarity with Ukraine.
“We have challenges in terms of international food supply chains, we have been hearing around the world cost of living increases, energy security and increased costs, but we’ll navigate those and we will stand ready and firm to accept Ukrainian refugees because of the mass movement of people as a result of this conflict,” he added.

As regards bilateral trade relations, Heydon highlighted the fact that exports from Ireland to Cyprus increased by €4 million between 2019 and 2020 and that was largely due to sales of Irish whiskey. “We are very proud of our Irish whiskey brand, that’s an area and a market we would like to increase our trade with further, we think we have a lot of potential to do that because the Cypriot people have a good taste in whiskey”.

Source: Cyprus Mail