Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 11-05-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] DOWNER - CYPRUS ISSUE

[02] CYPRUS - GREECE - EU

[03] OSCE - CYPRUS - ELECTIONS

[04] ISRAEL - PLANES - CYPRUS

[01] DOWNER - CYPRUS ISSUE

We want to make it a really useful meeting, a meeting that will move the process up a gear, said Downer, adding that they will focus on that a little bit closer to the time, taking into account what will happen between now and then.

Downer did not exclude the possibility of further trilateral meetings after late June and early July, saying however that its premature to be speculating on that at this stage.

Replying to a question on reports that the Secretary General agrees that December is the end of negotiation process, the Special Adviser pointed out that Ban Ki-moon has never said that in public or privately to anybody, adding that he has spoken to him very recently.

He added that the UN view has always been that this process needs to have a momentum, but thats a different thing from saying that there should be a specific deadline. He also clarified that the UN has not nominated a specific deadline and the Secretary General has not changed his position on the past 24 or 48 hours on that.

Asked about the possibility of a multilateral meeting, Downer said that nothing has been arranged at all and particularly in relation to timelines.

Obviously at the end of these processes there should be some sort of an international meeting and both sides agree to that. Of course, the two sides have different approaches on how the international meeting will work and who will participate in the international meeting, he said.

He noted that there are international issues, in particular the treaties of guarantee that involves Turkey and Greece and the UK as well.

Downer had meetings on Tuesday morning with President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu. The Special Adviser said that he is looking forward to meeting with them together on Thursday, adding that they are pressing on with discussions on security issue. He also said that the representatives of the leaders are meeting this afternoon and so is the subcommittee on treaties that hasnt met since the end of 2009.

Replying to another question, Downer said that the leaders will possibly meet again next week. He also said that the May 22 elections in Cyprus and the Jun 12 elections in Turkey have their own dynamic to the process.

[02] CYPRUS - GREECE - EU

Skandalides said the process to reform CAP would take ``a few months, with tough negotiations, and we hope that the Cypriot presidency will be so successful that the summit which will decide the final points for CAP for the period 2014-2020 will be especially favorable for the interests of Cyprus and Greece.``

The Greek Minister assured Eliades that Cyprus would have the full support of Greece, which has organised ``very successful presidencies since 1989.``

Asked if they discussed problems arising from the transportation of mainly agricultural products from the northern Turkish occupied areas to the southern government controlled areas of Cyprus and from there to the rest of the EU, and the issue of direct trade between the EU and the occupied areas, Eliades said they had not, noting that they did discuss the harsh competition European producers face due to the import of goods from third countries, which are cheaper.

[03] OSCE - CYPRUS - ELECTIONS

On election day, the observers will be based in the capital Nicosia and the southern coastal town of Limassol and will tour polling stations in other districts after receiving authorisation to do so.

On Tuesday, the delegation met at the Ministry of the Interior with Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides who said ``they were very pleased with what they heard and the legislation on the parliamentary elections, as well as the manner in which the Ministry of the Interior manages polling matters abroad, issues concerning religious groups etc.``

He added that questions concerning legislation on the pre-election period, the right of prisoners to vote and how persons enclaved in the Turkish occupied areas and citizens from occupied districts vote, were also answered.

[04] ISRAEL - PLANES - CYPRUS

Hermes Airports spokesman Adamos Aspris said that on May 5 a refueling problem came up at Ben Gurion airport in Israel and by midnight tonight over 160 aircraft are expected to use Larnaca and Paphos International Airports.

Aspris said that 147 aircraft have already used Larnaca International Airport and another 13 have used Paphos International Airport.

He noted that Israeli authorities have said that they expect the problem to be solved by midnight tomorrow and therefore more aircraft from Israel are expected today and tomorrow.

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