Royal couple of the Netherlands to conclude two-day state visit to Cyprus

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will conclude their two-day state visit to Cyprus on Wednesday, 5 March. 

President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and the First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides will travel with the Dutch Royal Couple to Nicosia Town Hall where they will be welcomed by Mayor Charalambos Prountzos and then they will tour the old city along the buffer zone and visit the Church of Panagia Faneromeni.

It is noted that this is the first time that the Dutch Royal Couple are visiting Cyprus and the visit is set to mark the beginning of a closer cooperation between Cyprus and the Netherlands.

The Royal Couple will then go to the House of Cooperation, where they will meet graduates of Dutch universities.

Their visit also includes a tour of the renowned archaeological site of Choirokoitia, where they will be welcomed by the Deputy Minister of Culture Vasiliki Kassianidou. The Neolithic settlement of Choirokoitia, occupied from the 7th to the 4th millennium B.C., is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the eastern Mediterranean. It has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1998

Dutch archaeologists from the University of Leiden – where the King studied – are currently carrying out excavations at the Palloures site in Chloraka.

In the afternoon, the King and Queen together with the President of the Republic, the First Lady and other dignitaries, will attend a concert with Dutch and Cypriot artists at THOC, which the Royal Couple is organising in honor of President Christodoulides and the First Lady in return for their hospitality. 

The Royal Couple will depart from Cyprus late on Wednesday evening.

Following a visit to the Presidential Palace and Parliament, on the afternoon of Tuesday, 4 March, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands visited the Zenon Coordination Centre and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Larnaca.

They were accompanied by Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the visit, the Royal Couple of the Netherlands toured the facilities of the Zenon Coordination Centre and the JRCC and were briefed on the critical role the Centre plays in search and rescue in the Eastern Mediterranean.

It is added that the Royal couple were briefed on the National Plan "ESTIA", which concerns crisis management and evacuation of civilians from crisis areas, as well as on the recent civilian evacuation operations from the region, while the annual Multinational Civil-Military Cooperation Exercise "ARGONAUT", one of the largest multinational search and rescue exercises in the region, was also presented.

"The visit of the King and Queen of the Netherlands to the Zenon Coordination Centre and the JRCC underlined the importance of Cyprus-Dutch cooperation on security and humanitarian aid issues, as well as the pivotal role of Cyprus as a pillar of stability in the region," the statement concludes.

The Royal couple also visited a potato production plant, accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Maria Panayiotou.

There was also a dinner in their honour at the Presidential Palace.

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(Source: CNA)