Foreign minister to convey Cyprus’ sincere will for talks to UNSG

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos will convey to UN Secretary-General the Greek Cypriot side’s sincere will for fresh talks on the Cyprus problem under the agreed framework on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions, government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Sunday.

Kombos is slated to meet UNSG Antonio Guterres in New York on Tuesday, while he also will have a series of contacts with high-ranking officials of the UN Secretariat.

“This meeting follows of a telephone conversation the President of the Republic had with the UNSG and the letter he sent to Guterres,” Letymbiotis said replying to journalists’ questions in Pafos on Sunday.

The minister will convey to the UNSG the “sincere will of our side, the Cypriot government, for the resumption of the talks within the agreed framework according to the Security Council resolutions”, Letymbiotis added.

He furthermore noted that Kombos “will also convey the results of the initiative assumed by the president over a more active involvement by the EU and how this could support the UN efforts.”

Moreover, the spokesperson recalled the NATO Summit in Vilnius Lithuania, where Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and other EU partners will have bilateral meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stating that “the initial intentions (of the Turkish side’s) over the resumption of the talks will be revealed.”

“The message we are sending at every opportunity”, he added, “is that we stand ready to contribute constructively in this effort through an initiative we have proposed, utilising our status as an EU member-state and we hope that the Turkish side and or Turkish Cypriot compatriots will respond to the immediate resumption of the negotiations.”

Concluding, Letymbiotis said the foreign minister “will once more call on the UN chief to appoint an envoy the soonest possible which we believe will have an added value to the efforts we are making.”