President Nikos Christodoulides said he fears that the United States may “step back” from its role in the international community after its forthcoming presidential election, in an interview published on Friday.
He told American newspaper the New York Times that following the election, “there is always a fear that you could have an America stepping back, a kind of seclusion and isolation.
“We have seen it in the past. That is the main concern, because the region is in turmoil right now. It is extremely dangerous,” he said, referring to the ongoing crises in the Middle East, which have spread to Lebanon, just 168 kilometres from the island at its closest point.
With this in mind, he said he was confident that incumbent US President Joe Biden, whom he met at the White House on Wednesday, would “continue to engage” with the international community until the last day of his term of office, but did note the uncertainty of the transition to a new administration.
“In a way, there is a vacuum. You do not know in two months what is going to happen. It is a very fragile situation,” he said.
The US’ presidential election will take place on Tuesday, with incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris facing off against former President Donald Trump.
Biden had said at his meeting with Christodoulides that there are “no limits to what our nations can achieve together, we have been doing this for a long time.
“Today, we stand against Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine, began our dialogue and cooperation on a wide range of defence and security issues, intelligence and increased humanitarian aid,” he added.
Christodoulides had said relations between Cyprus and the US are now at a “historical high”, while also highlighting the two countries’ close cooperation on the matters of “defence and security, energy, law enforcement, technology and innovation”.
He added that at a regional level, Cyprus is a “predictable and reliable partner of the US” in what he described as a “region of great geopolitical importance”, highlighting that Cyprus is a member state of the European Union, and a country which enjoys “excellent relations with all of its neighbours”.
He then spoke about the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza through Cyprus via the Amalthea plan and the evacuation of citizens of the US and other countries from crisis regions of the world through Cyprus via the Estia plan, and added that in carrying out these tasks, Cyprus has found itself on “the right side of history”.
Biden had also expressed his satisfaction with the Amalthea plan, saying it provided for the delivery of 8,000 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Cyprus made all this possible,” he added.
