Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 10-02-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] DOWNER UNSG VISIT

[02] SPOKESMAN PRESIDENT DUTIES

[03] DIGITAL SHIP CONFERENCE

[04] CYPRUS UNEMPLOYMENT

[01] DOWNER UNSG VISIT

Donwer made these statements after a meeting he had Wednesday in Nicosia with Democratic Rally President Nicos Anastasiades, in light of the reactions by the Cyprus government and the Greek Cypriot political leadership after the visit of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the so-called presidential palace in Cyprus Turkish occupied areas to meet the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

Dower said that he briefed Anastasiades on the visit of the Secretary General to Cyprus and explained in particular that the outcomes of the visit is that leaders will be meeting again and continuing with the negotiations. We are very encouraged and pleased by that, he said.

Asked about the reactions to the SGs visit to the so-called presidential palace, he recalled that the spokesman for the UN explained on a number of occasions over the last few days what the arrangements were.

He added that wherever the SG meets anybody it has no implications whatsoever for the recognition about the UN, absolutely no implications at all. The UN recognizes the Republic of Cyprus. It has done throughout. Nothing that the SG did and nowhere that the SG went during his visit to Cyprus had any bearing on that and had any bearing on UN resolutions. Not at all.

He also stressed that the really important thing for Cyprus and the really important thing for Cypriots is these negotiations. These are the central issue for the future of this country. That is the central issue and the focus needs to be on the continuation of the talks and the negotiation of a solution to the Cyprus problem. That is what is really important, he said.

He noted that the perspective of the UN is that we need to get these negotiations to succeed. This is an incredibly important period in the history of these negotiations and Cypriots need whether they are in the South or the North to concentrate on the success of these negotiations and give support to the leaders as they work through the difficult issues that they are working through.

Asked if these negotiations were jeopardized due to this meeting, he said No. I think the negotiations absolutely are going ahead and they are going ahead constructively and I think the SG was able to make a very valuable contribution to pushing of the process forward.

He said that throughout this process the UN made arrangements with the two sides for the visit and we have explained what those arrangements were, our spokesman has explained what those arrangements were and we just take things as they come.

Downer said that the really important thing here is to concentrate on the centrally important issue which is the negotiations. The SGs visit had no implications whatsoever for the question of recognition, not at all. We had arrangements that had been put in place before. Whatever happened with those arrangements, anything that happened had no implications for UN recognition.

Asked why the SG did not make any reference to UN resolutions during his statements on the island, his Special Adviser said that of course the SG supports UN resolutions and that there is no need for him to continue to repeat it. The SG doesnt of course pass the resolutions. The Security Council passes the resolutions. By definition the UN Secretariat supports these resolutions, he said.

Invited to say if the talks will continue in an intensive pace he said that no decision has been made about that and we look forward to hearing that from the leaders very soon on when their next meeting is going to be and the nature of those meetings. But the leaders will be working on that themselves.

Anastasiades said that explanations given by Downer as to the SGs visit to the so called presidential palace show that the UN was unaware of these arrangements by the Turkish Cypriot side.

Anastasiades also noted that the UN diplomat insisted that the time until the so called elections in the occupied areas must be used so that the leaders will be able to deal with all pending issues in the negotiations.

Christofias and Talat have been engaged in direct negotiations since September 2008 with a view to solve the problem of Cyprus, divided since the invasion of Turkish troops in 1974.

[02] SPOKESMAN PRESIDENT DUTIES

In a written statement, Stephanou said that at 11am local time, the President chaired a meeting with the participation of Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis, the Spokesman, Under Secretary to the President Dr. Titos Christofides, the Permanent Secretary of the Finance Ministry Christos Patsalides and the Director of the Presidents office Vasos Georgiou. The meeting dealt with economy, development and social policy issues, the statement concluded.

President Christofias was discharged on Tuesday evening from the Nicosia General Hospital, where he underwent medical tests after having felt unwell earlier in the day. Doctors said that said that possibly exhaustion and the Presidents heavy schedule caused the condition that led him to hospital.

[03] DIGITAL SHIP CONFERENCE

Digital Ship Cyprus is one of the world`s largest maritime communications, IT and technical conferences, held annually in Cyprus and organised jointly with the Cyprus Shipping Chamber ICT Subcommittee.

In statements after the opening ceremony, Communications and Works Minister Nicos Nicolaides said that this is perhaps the most important conference in the world as regards technology, telecommunications and information systems in the field of merchant shipping.

Referring to the issue of piracy, Nicolaides said that Cyprus has every reason to support the combating of piracy.

[04] CYPRUS UNEMPLOYMENT

Based on the seasonally adjusted data, the number of registered unemployed reached 19.897 persons in January recording an increase of 1,3% compared to the previous month.

The trend of the registered unemployed that showed an upward movement in the last months shows signs of stabilisation.

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