Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 06-08-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] LILLIKAS - EU - LEBANON

[01] LILLIKAS - EU - LEBANON

Speaking before departing to Brussels where he will attend the EU Foreign Ministers meeting on Lebanon, Lillikas, who returned Thursday from Lebanon where he held talks with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, said that he will convey the positions of Cyprus on the issue of Lebanon as well as its participation in the peacekeeping force of the country.

Lillikas further said that Cyprus intends to continue offering its services to Lebanon, adding that he will also raise the Palestinian issue and the issue of Israeli operations underway in Gaza.

He said that as long as the Palestinian issue remains unresolved, it will be very hard, if almost impossible for the Middle East area to enter a situation of stability and peace.

Asked if Javier Solana, the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, will visit Cyprus again, Lillikas said that the EU official will come to Cyprus many times because he is in charge of foreign policy and security issues. The EU, through Solana, will play its own role in the Lebanon area, he added.

He also said that Cyprus will offer Solana and any other EU and UN official all the facilities it can to effectively perform their work.

Replying to other questions, Lillikas said that the Cyprus government anticipates and expects an objective briefing of the UN Security Council members on the developments which followed the 8th of July agreement and the reasons that the desired progress has not been reached.

On July 8th, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met in the presence of UN Undersecretary General for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari and agreed to begin a process of bicommunal discussions on issues that affect the day-to-day life of the people and those that concern substantive issues, to pave the way for an overall solution of the Cyprus problem.

Invited to comment on reports that the Security Council will intervene on the technical committees issue, the FM said there is no information that such a thing will happen. What we know is that the five permanent members will be informed by Mr. Gambari on the results of his meeting and it will be logical that they are informed on developments after the 8th July agreement.

We are expecting and anticipate that there will be an objective briefing of the Council on the developments that will follow and the reasons why we have not yet reached the desired level, which is the start of the technical committees work, he added.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied the islands northern third.

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