Following the meeting, Speaker Omirou held a joint press conference with Berri whereby he said that Lebanon was one of the leading countries to recognize the independence of Cyprus and set up relations with it, adding that during Israel's onslaught against Lebanon in 2006, Cyprus received the Lebanese people as guests. He added that Cyprus was also a part of the UNIFIL mission in South Lebanon, noting that Cyprus considers Lebanon as "the gate to the Arab World." On the oil case, Speaker Omirou said that Cyprus holds a bilateral agreement with Lebanon regarding offshore oil and gas reserves, pointing that they are against Israel's "greed" in this regard. He stressed the need to work on further developing relations between Lebanon and Cyprus seemingly since both countries are struggling for freedom and justice, respect the international law and will profit from offshore gas reserves. In this context, Speaker Omirou said that Cyprus presented a draft to Lebanon pertaining to mutual cooperation to profit from these reserves.