Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 06-07-08

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] PAPADOPOULOS - TALAT - GAMBARI - STATEMENT

[02] PAPADOPOULOS - MEETING

[03] SPOKESMAN - MEETING

[04] MI35 - DEBRIS

[01] PAPADOPOULOS - TALAT - GAMBARI - STATEMENT

The decision, which is part of a set of principles agreed, was taken during a three-hour meeting the two leaders had in the presence of UN Undersecretary General for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari at the residence of UN Secretary General`s Special Representative in Cyprus Michael Moller in the UN buffer zone.

The two leaders underlined their commitment to the unification of Cyprus, based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and political equality, as set out in the relevant Security Council resolutions.

They decided that the Technical Committees on issues that affect the day to day life of people will commence by the end of July provided that, at the same time, the two Leaders will also have exchanged a list of issues of substance and its contents to be studied by expert bi-communal working groups and finalized by the Leaders.

Papadopoulos and Talat agreed to meet further, from time to time as appropriate, to give directions to the expert bi-communal working groups as well as to review the work of the Technical Committees.

Gambari said the two leaders had very frank and very concerted discussions.

In the Set of Principles, the two leaders set out their commitment to the unification of Cyprus based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and political equality, as set out in the relevant Security Council resolutions.

They recognize the fact that the status quo is unacceptable and that its prolongation would have negative consequences for the Turkish and Greek Cypriots and pledged commitment to the proposition that a comprehensive settlement is both desirable and possible, and should not be further delayed.

Furthermore, they agreed to begin a process immediately, involving bi-communal discussion of issues that affect the day to day life of the people and concurrently those that concern substantive issues, both of which will contribute to a comprehensive settlement.

They expressed commitment to ensure that the `right atmosphere` prevails for this process to be successful. In that connection, confidence building measures are essential, both in terms of improving the atmosphere and improving the life of all Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Also in that connection, an end must be put to the so-called `blame game`."

The two leaders decided that the Technical Committees on issues that affect the day to day life of people will commence by the end of July provided that, at the same time, the two Leaders will also have exchanged a list of issues of substance and its contents to be studied by expert bi-communal working groups and finalized by the Leaders.

In addition, Papadopoulos and Talat will meet further, from time to time as appropriate, to give directions to the expert bi-communal working groups as well as to review the work of the Technical Committees.``

President Papadopoulos was accompanied by Director of the President`s Diplomatic Office Tasos Tzionis, Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardes, Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN Andreas Mavroyiannis and Director of the Cyprus problem division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Erato Kozakou Markoulli.

This was their third meeting during the past days. Papadopoulos and Talat met on July 3, to mark the assumption of duties by Christophe Girod as the third member of the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP), as well as last night when they attended a reception hosted by Moller in honour of Gambari.

[02] PAPADOPOULOS - MEETING

Speaking on his return to the Presidential Palace after a meeting with UN Undersecretary General for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, President Papadopoulos pointed out that on Saturday there was just an agreement to begin the process and that things would get tough during the discussion of issues of substance.

Asked which issues the technical committees would begin from, President Papadopoulos said the position of the Greek Cypriot side is that matters of substance should also be discussed.

``I call to mind that right after the Paris session with the UN Secretary General, I had stressed that our position was that mainly the matters of substance should be discussed and in parallel day-to-day issues, as they are called, should be discussed. I think that today`s agreement is an implementation of that Paris agreement and I think that now there is no doubt that the issues of substance will be discussed along with the other day-to-day issues,`` he said.

President Papadopoulos added that ``the agreement is that by the end of July the two committees will initially be set up, more may be added later on, as long as, there is the phrase `as long as`, the list of issues of substance to be discussed will also be agreed on.``

``Of course this is just an agreement to begin the process. That is to say that the main issue and I assume the difficult part will begin during the discussion of issues of substance, when it will depend on whether the two sides will show the good will to find the necessary compromises on these serious issues of substance,`` he said.

[03] SPOKESMAN - MEETING

He added that the Greek Cypriot side expressed its readiness to cooperate with goodwill and a constructive spirit to the effective implementation of that agreed on in today`s joint meeting towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem, and that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has already contacted the two leaders and Gambari to congratulate them on the result.

Pashiardis noted that ``today`s joint meeting and its result was an encouraging development and a first positive step as a result of the agreement of President Papadopoulos and the UN Secretary General in Paris.``

``We express satisfaction over the result of today`s meeting. The importance of today`s development will appear through the substantive follow up and the prospect to produce visible and concrete results in the near future,`` he said.

He added that ``our side expresses its readiness to cooperate with goodwill and a constructive spirit to the effective implementation of that agreed on in today`s joint meeting.``

Pashiardis said President Papadopoulos expresses his gratitude towards Gambari, the UN Secretary General`s Special Representative in Cyprus Michael Moller and their associates ``for their efforts towards achieving today`s result.``

[04] MI35 - DEBRIS

Members of the National Guard and the air force loaded the debris on trucks and transported it to the ``Andreas Papandreou`` airbase for further examinations, while an expert was monitoring the whole procedure.

Minister of Defence Phivos Klokkaris has said that the reasons of the crash will be investigated as soon as possible, while Greek experts and a Russian one are in Cyprus to assist the investigations.

Wednesday`s crash is the third accident involving a National Guard aircraft.

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