President briefing National Council on NY trilateral meeting results

The President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides will brief the members of the National Council on the results of the joint meeting of 15 October with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, in New York.

According to a message that Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis posted on "X"  the day after the meeting, the President of the Republic convened the National Council for 10.30am on the morning of 22 October, where he will brief its members on the results of the 15 October joint meeting, as well as the next steps that have been identified, with an expanded meeting to be convened by the Secretary-General.

"The commitment to the objective of resuming negotiations within the agreed framework remains firm, the desire of all of us for a solution to the Cyprus problem is common, as should be our effort," he said.

Moreover, in an interview with the Euronews television network in Brussels, where he travelled after the New York meeting for the European Council at the end of last week, President Christodoulides had reiterated that there cannot be any solution to the Cyprus problem or any discussion outside the framework of the UN resolutions.

He also said that the desired outcome for him would have been "to succeed in announcing the resumption of talks", which he noted "has not been possible", adding however that the meeting was "a positive step."

He also noted that he is expecting the date of the expanded meeting to be set and that UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary Di Carlo will assume the role of UN Secretary General envoy and prepare this meeting.

In his remarks during his arrival at the European Council in Brussels on Thursday morning, the President of the Republic said that he expects announcements from the European Union within 2024 in relation to the Cyprus problem.

He noted that these announcements "will also show the increased interest that exists", without, however, mentioning specific details, while estimating that these announcements will come after the approval of the new members of the European Commission by the European Parliament around the end of November.

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 conclusively.   

(Source: CNA)