Article Title: PM to visit Cyprus, Croatia during his trip to Canada
10-06-2025
International Relations Current Affairs Analysis
Context
• Reiterating India’s traditional foreign policy goals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Cyprus and Croatia, official sources said here on Monday.
• Mr. Modi will visit Cyprus on his way to Canada to participate in the G-7 summit (June 15 17), and on the way back, he will pay a visit to Croatia, which will be the first Prime Minister-level visit from the Indian side since the formation of Croatia in 1991, after the dissolution of former Yugoslavia.
• Both visits are being described as important from a political as well as commercial point of view. Sources here hinted that the Cyprus visit will serve as a message to Turkiye that had assisted Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May.
• It will also act as a timely revival of top-level contacts as Cyprus is set to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026.
Importance of the visit
• Officials here indicated that both Cyprus and Croatia have acquired growing significance in recent years after the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) was launched during the G-20 summit in New Delhi in 2023.
• Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960 with a constitution aiming for peace between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority.
• Inter-communal tensions escalated in 1963, leading to violence and the division of the capital, Nicosia, along the "Green Line."
• A 1974 Turkish invasion further divided the island, with the northern part declaring independence as Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey).
• The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was established in 1964 to maintain peace and has been present ever since, with the UK as a key contributor.
• Peacekeepers patrol the buffer zone, a 180km strip separating the two sides, and monitor for unauthorized activity.
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