Heads of European Union Mediterranean states offered full support on Friday for fellow EU member Cyprus in a dispute with Turkey over the ownership of offshore natural gas deposits.

Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Abdel Men’em el-Tarras stressed the importance of cooperation with Cyprus to upgrade defense industries in accordance with the directives of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Palmer, in an interview with the Turkish Cypriot news agency, said meaningfully that finding the hydrocarbons in the region increases the importance of the Eastern Mediterranean to the US.