President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, highlighted on Sunday the importance of the meeting which the UN Secretary - General, Antonio Guterres, will have on Tuesday in New York with Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan as regards developments in the Cyprus question.

Speaking during a press conference in New York, where he will address the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and will hold a series of meetings, the President said that they consider as important the meeting of the UNSG with the Turkish President, expressing his belief that "it will determine the next moves of the Secretary - General on the Cyprus problem."

"I consider the meeting of the Secretary - General with the Turkish President as the most decisive one as regards the developments on the Cyprus issue," he underlined.

Referring to his meeting with the UNSG, on September 22, President Christodoulides said that "the messages are clear; it is what we say in public as well; it is what I have included in several letters that I have sent to the SG that a special envoy who will look into the prospects for the resumption of talks must be appointed."

President Christodoulides did not rule out the possibility of developments this week that will allow the announcement of unilateral measures by the Republic of Cyprus for the Turkish Cypriot community, that were drafted after discussions that took place with personalities from the Turkish Cypriot community, with the civil society. "I hope that there will be developments that will allow this to take place this week," he said. He also noted that he has some suggestions to make for confidence building measures which are related to the everyday life.

In his statements, Christodoulides said that his meetings as well as the meetings of Foreign Affairs Minister, Constantinos Kombos, in New York, have three objectives set out by the Republic of Cyprus before this trip.

The first and most important one has to do with the Cyprus problem, he noted. He went on to say that they hope that the meetings that will take place will open the way first for the appointment of a UNSG envoy and after that for the resumption of Cyprus talks.

He said that the second matter that they will discuss during the meetings concerns energy developments, in light of the EU effort to end energy dependency on Russia and to establish new energy routes. He said that in this framework there will be bilateral meetings on this issue, adding that Israel and Egypt are two important countries for Cyprus in this sector. He noted that in this framework they will hold meetings in New York with the heads of Exxon and Chevron.

The third objective has to do with attracting quality investments to Cyprus, and particularly of US investments, a goal that has been set out together with the US administration, the President noted.

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: Cyprus News Agency