India and Cyprus Sign Five-Year Defence Roadmap, Elevate Ties to Strategic Partnership
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
India and Cyprus elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership on 22 May, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides signing six agreements at Hyderabad House in New Delhi following wide-ranging talks that covered defence, trade, connectivity, counter-terrorism and the situations in Ukraine and West Asia.
The centrepiece of the visit was the Roadmap for Bilateral Defence Cooperation 2026-2031, which commits both sides to deepening military ties over five years. A separate memorandum of understanding was signed between the Cyprus Defence and Space Industries Cluster, known as CyDSIC, and India's Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers, SIDM. A technical arrangement on search and rescue cooperation was also formalised. Cypriot officials confirmed that a defence minister-level visit to India would follow shortly for discussions on specific weapons systems and procurement processes.
"We are interested in buying from the Indian defence industry. The second priority is to have India and Cyprus defence industries work together," a Cypriot official told WION on the sidelines of the visit.
Cyprus is eligible for 1.2 billion euros under EU defence funding instruments and is actively looking to expand its military capabilities. The timing of the weapons interest was deliberate. Cypriot officials cited India's Operation Sindoor, the May 2025 precision strike campaign targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as evidence of battle-tested Indian defence capabilities.
The remaining agreements covered innovation and technology cooperation, education and culture, and the establishment of a joint working group on counter-terrorism. Both sides agreed to conclude a comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership and a Social Security Agreement in the near future.
Trade, IMEC and the EU Gateway
On the economic side, Modi and Christodoulides committed to doubling bilateral trade by 2029. Cyprus announced its intention to open a Cyprus Trade Centre in Mumbai. Cyprus is already among India's top ten investors, with cumulative investment of 15.76 billion dollars between April 2000 and June 2025.
Both leaders described the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, IMEC, as having "transformational potential" for reshaping global trade and connectivity. Cyprus holds the Presidency of the EU Council and positioned itself throughout the visit as a strategic gateway for Indian businesses, fintech, digital services and investment funds into the European market.
Christodoulides described the partnership as one with "strategic depth and global relevance, particularly at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty." Modi said Cyprus was "emerging as an important investment gateway between India and the whole of Europe" and that the two countries aimed to double Cypriot investment in India again over the next five years.
The Türkiye Factor
The partnership did not emerge in a vacuum. During India's Operation Sindoor in May 2025, Türkiye openly backed Pakistan, providing military, diplomatic and political support and reiterating its traditional alignment with Islamabad. The position drew a sharp reaction across New Delhi's diplomatic circle and accelerated India's outreach to countries with their own grievances toward Türkiye and Pakistan.
Cyprus sits precisely in that position. Pakistan voted against UN Security Council Resolution 541 in 1983, which declared the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus legally invalid. Nicosia has long tracked Islamabad's alignment with Ankara on the Cyprus file, and Türkiye's posture during Operation Sindoor gave that existing tension a sharper edge.
Cyprus Foreign Minister Kombos, who visited India ahead of Christodoulides, stated that Cyprus extended "full solidarity to India" and agreed that "there can be no other way of dealing with terrorism other than zero tolerance, extending not only to the terrorists but also to those who support and finance them." The language was directed at Pakistan but carried an unmistakable secondary meaning given Türkiye's conduct during the crisis.
India does not recognise the TRNC and supports Cyprus's position at the UN. Cyprus in turn backs India's candidacy for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and has supported India's civil nuclear arrangements under the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The strategic partnership signed on 22 May formalises a relationship that has been building on a foundation of shared positions toward Türkiye and Pakistan for years.
The defence roadmap now adds a military dimension to that alignment, placing Indian weapons, joint production and search-and-rescue cooperation inside a bilateral framework that both sides described as long-term. For Nicosia, the partnership also provides a counterweight as it manages the expanding Israel-Greece-GCA security axis, the aftermath of Cypriot parliamentary elections that strengthened the far-right ELAM, and Türkiye's sharpened guarantor language over the island.