President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday said he is hoping for “more positive developments” to be achieved at his tripartite meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, which is expected to take place towards the end of this month.

He said the date of the planned meeting is expected to be decided after Guterres returns from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in the Philippines, which is being held between November 16 and 18, and that he will attend that meeting with “a clear goal”.

“On the one hand [we aim] to have more positive developments, announcements relating to confidence-building measures, on issues of methodology, and on the substance, and at the same time, to announce the exact date of an enlarged meeting,” he said.

Guterres had said during his visit to the island in July that an enlarged meeting, involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN, will be convened “after adequate progress” is achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

Earlier this week, sources close to the matter told the Cyprus Mail that should it be deemed that “adequate” progress has been achieved at the end of the tripartite meeting, it remains possible that an enlarged meeting could be held during the first half of December.

EU has ‘specific direction’ for relations with Turkey

Christodoulides on Friday also spoke on the matter of European Commission Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto’s planned visit to Turkey, which will take place on November 20, saying that he is “optimistic” about the meetings the envoy will hold in Ankara.

He made reference to the telephone call he had held with Fitto on Thursday, and said that “as the European Union, as the Republic of Cyprus, the direction is very specific” in terms of relations with Turkey going forward.

“We want to see positive developments in relations between Europe and Turkey – positive developments, however, which … can happen only if there are developments on the Cyprus problem, and not just general developments, but the resumption of negotiations within the agreed-upon framework from the point at which they were interrupted at Crans-Montana,” he said.

To this end, he said that he is in “constant contact” with Fitto, and that he plans to speak to the envoy again ahead of his visit to Turkey, and then again after it.

On this front, the Cyprus Mail was informed on Thursday by sources familiar with proceedings that progress on the Cyprus problem could pave the way both for Turkey to be included in the EU’s “Made in EU” scheme, and for the EU upgrading its customs agreement with the country, which has been in force since 1996.

Turkey has long wished for revised customs union

Turkey has long been campaigning for either a revised customs union deal, or full membership of the EU customs union – something which is currently only enjoyed by the EU’s 27 member states and Monaco – given the disadvantages of its current deal.

At present, Turkey has a customs union agreement with the EU, but given that Turkey is not a full EU member, it does not enjoy the full benefits of the union. As such, when the EU signs a trade deal with a third country, imports to Turkey from that third country can no longer be tariffed, but that third country can continue to place tariffs on Turkish exports.

The “Made in EU” scheme forms a part of the EU’s planned industrial accelerator act, which includes a stipulation for “Made in EU” and low-carbon preferences in public procurement and public support initiatives taken inside the bloc.

Were the proposal to be passed into law, businesses based outside the EU, including in Turkey, could lose access to public procurement projects inside the bloc, with countries on Europe’s political periphery now seeking amendments to ensure that their businesses are treated as internal for the purpose of the act.