President expects announcements on the Cyprus Problem in coming days

Announcements regarding the possibility of the resumption of the Cyprus Problem negotiations are expected in the coming days, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, the president underscored the importance of Cyprus’ participation in the Cairo peace summit, saying he had the opportunity to meet with the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutters.

Christodoulides said he is “optimistic” about what the UNSG conveyed to him.

“In the next few days, without wanting to go into any details or speak for the UN Secretary General, I think we will have announcements in the direction of starting an effort to see if there is that ground to resume substantive talks from where they were interrupted in the summer of 2017.”

Asked about the agreement reached on Pyla and the start of the works in the area, the president said he considers it important stressing that it “was the product of discussions with Turkey itself”.

The works will start on Monday, the president said, adding that the status of the buffer zone will be secured. He said the works will benefit the community of Pyla, while stressed that “it is another indication of our goodwill” since the proposal adopted was a proposal from the Greek Cypriot side.

“But through the support of the international community as well, because there was considerable support for this effort, we came up with what will begin to be implemented tomorrow,” he said.

The mutual understanding found over the construction of a road between the buffer zone village of Pyla and Arsos in the north has won universal praise and put an end to a dispute that had turned violent.