Deputy Prime Minister, Caretaker Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Zeina Akar, concluded her visit to Cyprus on Saturday, by visiting the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Larnaca, accompanied by Deputy Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Pilot Bassam Yassin, Lebanon's Ambassador to Cyprus Claude Al-Hajal and Lieutenant-Colonel Haitham Dergham.

Minister Akar was received by the Center's Commander, Lieutenant Commander Andreas Charalambides, and members of the Center.

Akar toured the Center and was briefed by officials on the tasks and search and rescue operations that they carry out, in addition to the advanced techniques in the rescue of ships and those on board in case of accidents at sea, and the search for missing persons and the rescue of illegal migrants.

During the meeting, which was held at the Center’s building, the subject of the agreement regarding the establishment of a similar center in Lebanon, in cooperation with Cyprus, was discussed. Minister Akar heard from Cypriot officials about the reactivation of work to achieve this end.

In this connection, Brigadier General Charalambides stressed, "the importance of cooperation between the relevant security and military apparatuses in Cyprus and Lebanon in order to carry out rescue and search operations in the Mediterranean, especially in the territorial waters between the two countries," hoping to establish a similar center in Lebanon.