President 
Demetris Christofias who is the head of the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government, and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu agreed on Thursday to step up contact. This is in efforts to try to overcome obstacles in the quest to reunite their island, UNSG Ban Ki-moon stated.
Ki-moon said the two men would aim to work out a practical plan for resolving outstanding problems.
The UNSG said he planned to meet Christofias and Eroglu again in Geneva at the end of January to seek progress in ending a conflict that is harming Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
“In the meantime, the leaders will identify further convergences and the core issues which still need to be resolved across all chapters,” he said.
Upon the conclusion of yesterday’s joint meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu and the UN Secretary General Ki-moon in New York, the President of the Republic Mr Demetris Christofias made the following statement:
“I will be very friendly with you as usual. I came to New York after having been bombarded with a load of conjecture and catastrophic speculations. I am leaving New York very satisfied with the results of this meeting. None of the speculations was founded. There are no timeframes, there is no threat by anybody and there is no intention by the Secretary General to exert pressure. His press release is crystal clear, at least in my evaluation and the way I interpret it.
I return to Cyprus satisfied. But the Secretary General has set up a new meeting, you will say to me. Even if the Secretary General sets up 100 meetings, I will be present. I want this to be fully understood at the end of the day. Will we decline a meeting with the Secretary General? I know very well what was said at the end of the meeting, and this is why I am saying all this.
I also undertook the responsibility of confidentiality and I am obliged not to say anything that has been said at the meeting. In any case, I repeat, I express my satisfaction. We want a solution to the Cyprus problem; we do not want talks for the sake of talks. This is well known. And we will do whatever is possible in order to break the deadlock. I hope that we will succeed.”
President Christofias had separate meetings yesterday afternoon with the Permanent Representatives of France, Russia and Greece.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
