New Delhi. Cyprus President Nicos Christodolides’ visit to India ended on Saturday. During this, both the countries gave a new height to bilateral relations and announced to upgrade their relations to strategic partnership. This visit of the President of Cyprus was from 20 to 23 May. During this period, many important agreements were signed between the two countries.

The visit is being seen as an important step towards strengthening cooperation between New Delhi and Nicosia in the fields of diplomacy, trade, education and security. Giving information about the conclusion of the visit to India, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on Twitter, “A successful and meaningful visit has come to an end. After the state visit, the President departed from New Delhi. He was bid farewell by the Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Ajay Tamta. This visit gave new strength to India-Cyprus relations and opened a new chapter by elevating the bilateral relationship to ‘Strategic Partnership’.”

On Friday, PM Narendra Modi described India’s partnership with Cyprus as strong and future-oriented, based on shared democratic values. After delegation-level talks with President Christodoulides at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi said that in view of the growing closeness between the two countries, it has been decided to convert the relationship into a ‘Strategic Partnership’.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the talks between the two countries yielded several significant results, including an agreement on the formation of a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism, cooperation between the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and the Diplomatic Academy of Cyprus, as well as cooperation in higher education and research. The potential of IMEC to reshape global trade and connectivity was discussed.

It also stressed the importance of promoting stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Greater Middle East as well as promoting corridors of deep connectivity and interconnection from India to Europe via the Greater Middle East. IMEC was discussed in the context of starting a bilateral connectivity dialogue between the two countries. IMEC will have two different corridors, the East Corridor will connect India to the Gulf and the Northern Corridor will connect the Gulf to Europe.

The objective of this corridor is to enhance connectivity, increase efficiency, reduce costs, secure regional supply chains, increase trade accessibility and create jobs; This will lead to transformative integration of Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

A target has been set to double the investment between the two countries in the next five years. The Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will become operational in Cyprus from next year. This will mark another major expansion of the country’s digital payments ecosystem in Europe. There was also an informal and warm moment during the visit, when Christodoulides and Prime Minister Modi took a selfie in Hyderabad.

Sharing this photo, Christodulides expressed his gratitude for India’s hospitality, calling PM Modi “dear friend Narendra”. He also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi and later participated in official programs in the capital.