Response to new UNSG proposal on Cyprus problem envoy on Monday, President says

The Greek Cypriot side will on Monday, 4 December give its response to the UN Secretary-General's proposal on the person he intends to appoint as his envoy for the Cyprus issue, the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides has said, expressing hope that there will be developments soon.

In his statements, and replying to questions from journalists at the port of Larnaca, from where he boarded the ship Mount Whitney of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet, accompanied by the American Ambassador, Julie Fisher, on 3 December, Christodoulides said that the Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, officially told him during their meeting in Dubai, the name of another personality that he intends to appoint as his envoy on the Cyprus issue.

He noted that Guterres had informed all interested parties and was awaiting responses. “Our response will be given on Monday,” he said.

“I hope we will soon have developments”, he added.

He also said that he informed the UNSG “about all that is taking place in the buffer zone, what is happening in Agios Dometios, but also in general about the approach of the occupying forces”.

Asked what he discussed with the Turkish President during their brief meeting in Dubai, the President of the Republic said that “it was a discussion in general about the Cyprus issue, about the need to create developments, to resolve the Cyprus issue, which, as I mentioned to him, will help strengthen Euro-Turkish relations and, in general, to create such conditions in our region that will be to the benefit of all states”.

On Friday, the President of the Republic had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit, in Dubai, as well as a short meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 illegal Turkish invasion. Numerous peace talks under the UN aegis to reunite the island under a federal roof failed to yield results. The latest round of talks took place in the summer of 2017 in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana.

(Source: CNA)