President to participate in opening of the SDG Summit in New York

Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, will participate in the opening segment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDD) Summit in New York on Monday,18 September.

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development takes place on 18-19 September at the UN headquarters, during the UN General Assembly high-level week. The opening segment will begin at 0900 local time and opening remarks will be delivered, among others, by the President of the 78th General Assembly, Dennis Francis, and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

President Christodoulides will deliver a statement at this Summit on 19 September at 1500.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General had a meeting, among others, on 17 September with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

Michel is expected to brief Christodoulides on 19 September about any discussion that may have taken place as regards the Cyprus problem, in light of the President's proposal for a more active involvement of the EU in efforts to reinvigorate settlement talks, during a meeting they will have in the morning.

Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos, will accompany Christodoulides to the opening segment of the SDG Summit, and will also have bilateral meetings with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dačić, and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of the Principality of Liechtenstein Dominique Hasler on 18 September.

Later on, he will attend a Ministerial-Level Meeting on the peace effort for the Middle East and after that an EU Foreign Minister's meeting. 

He will also attend a reception on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Germany's membership to the UN.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

(Source: CNA)