President Christodoulides to be received by Keir Starmer at Downing Street

There is always hope for progress in the Cyprus issue, a Whitehall source told CNA ahead of the visit of the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides to London.

The Cyprus President will be received by the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on the afternoon of 14 October.

The main topics on their agenda will be the efforts to resume negotiations towards a Cyprus issue settlement, the role that Cyprus has been playing in providing humanitarian assistance to the Middle East and the bilateral relations.

After the meeting, President Christodoulides will depart for New York, where on 15 October he will have an informal meeting with the UN Secretary-General and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

A Whitehall source told the Cyprus News Agency that the visit provides the opportunity that Sir Keir was also looking forward to hold a first face-to-face meeting with the Cypriot leader, who could not attend the European Political Community in Oxfordshire last July due to schedule clash.

Asked whether London sees a realistic prospect of progress in the Cyprus issue, the source said “there is always hope”. 

They added that it is for that reason the UK keeps on encouraging “flexibility” on all sides. Commenting that such flexibility is possible, they said: “It could be seen, for instance, that the Turkish Cypriots now are not talking about sovereign equality as a prerequisite for negotiations, but they are referring to the 3Ds (direct flights, direct trade, directs contacts)”.

The same source, however, stressed that the position of the United Kingdom for a resolution within the existing parameters of the UN on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation hasn’t changed at all.

Both sides’ agenda for the meeting also feature regional developments, especially the conflict in the Middle East and bilateral relations.

On the former, Prime Minister Starmer is expected to praise Cyprus’s role in being prepared to take the initiative and assist the humanitarian cause in the region; on the latter the two leaders will highlight the strength of the UK-Cypriot ties in a wide range of areas.

(Source: CNA)