Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides, departed Nicosia Saturday morning for Lebanon where he will hold talks with his Lebanese counterpart, President Emile Lahoud on various issues, reported the Iranian News Agency Saturday.
Talks will include bilateral ties and possible new agreements between the two countries in commercial, cultural and other sectors.
Clerides will also meet with the Maronite Patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, and the Orthodox archbishop of Lebanon, said the agency.
Meanwhile, the agency reported that Cyprus interior minister, Christodoulos Christodoulou, will visit Damascus next week to discuss with his Syrian counterpart problems in dealing with illegal immigrants.
"I will be in Syria on February 10, heading a delegation, for talks with the Syrian interior minister to exchange some views in order to upgrade our cooperation and improve the measures we take to tackle this very serious problem," Christodoulou said.
He was speaking just two days after the police detained two illegal immigrants for unauthorized entry into Cyprus.
Another 15 illegal immigrants from Iraq were detained by the British military police, when they landed in one of the two military bases Britain has retained on the island after Cyprus became an independent state in 1960.
"The problem exists and is set to get worse," the minister said, adding that " many people are either duped, having paid a lot of money to those who exploit them, or are just brought here and abandoned." -- Albawaba.com
