The newly elected President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides was welcomed to the Hellenic Parliament by its president Constantine Tassoulas on Monday.

Tassoulas presented Christodoulides with the Hellenic Parliament's golden medal 'Seal of Liberty 1821' and an accompanying scroll, wishing that Cyprus "gets its own seal of liberty in the future under your hands" and "the island becomes a single country, prosperous for all its citizens."

"You symbolize a hopeful new beginning for the long-standing national issue of Cyprus, which remains the leading issue of Greek foreign policy as well," he told Christodoulides.

The Cypriot president thanked Tassoulas for "the catalytic role played by the Hellenic Parliament in the most important success of Cypriot foreign policy since its establishment in 1960, which was none other than the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004."