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Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 12-02-05Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>CONTENTS
[01] House President on official visit to AustraliaDevelopments in the ongoing effort to find a negotiated settlement that would reunite Cyprus will be the focus of discussions a parliamentary delegation will have in Australia this coming week.During our official visit, we shall brief our interlocutors on developments in the Cyprus issue, in the light of increasing Turkish intransigence, and seek their support in our effort to achieve a viable, functional and democratic settlement, on the basis of international and European law, House President Yiannakis Omirou has said on his departure for Australia. Replying to questions, Omirou said he expects their meetings to be productive and fruitful. Omirou, heading a six member delegation, will pay an official visit to Australia, from February 6 to 12, at the invitation of the President of the Australian Senate John Hogg and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper. The delegation will visit Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney and have a series of contacts with political personalities on a federal and state level. The members of the Cypriot delegation will meet Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the Governor of New South Wales Marie Bashir, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria Ken Smith and the President of the Legislative Council of Victoria Bruce Atkinson. In Canberra they will meet the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade of the Australian Parliament and lunch with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales Shelley Hancock, the President of the Legislative Council Don Harwin and members of the Australia-Cyprus Friendship Group. The delegation will also meet members of the Cypriot community of Australia, in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, as well as Archbishop of Australia Stylianos. UN-led peace talks are currently underway between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities aiming at a political settlement that would reunite the country, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion. [02] Government supports CMP workThe government has vowed to continue its support for the work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) to help establish the fate of all missing persons in Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. The government has also pledged to vindicate, through the reunification of Cyprus, the struggle of the Cypriot people by realizing its primary objective for a mutually agreed political settlement in a bizonal bicommunal federation. Addressing the international community at large, the government urged key players to ensure that Turkey meets all its obligations towards the Republic of Cyprus and the EU, including efforts to find a negotiated settlement.The government supports and will continue to support the CMP and will do everything possible to expedite the process of identification of exhumed remains with a view to restore the human rights of all the relatives of missing persons in Cyprus, Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis said here today, as he inaugurated a park dedicated to the 84 missing persons from the village of Ashia, on the southeast. He said the park is the least we can do for the 14 persons who were killed in cold blood, the 84 missing, 21 Greek Cypriot missing who ended up in Ashia village during the summer of 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied Cyprus northern part. The CMP project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus has so far exhumed human remains representing over 830 individuals, while over 310 missing persons have been identified and their remains returned to the families concerned. [03] EU Ministers discuss research and innovation programmeEuropean Union Ministers, who met earlier this week at an informal Competitiveness Council in Copenhagen, discussed Horizon 2020 programme, which addresses research and innovation issues. Cyprus was represented at the meeting by Health Minister Stavros Malas, who will chair the Competitiveness Council in the second half of this year, when Cyprus will assume the six monthly rotating presidency of the EU Council.Horizon 2020, with an estimated budget of 80 million euro, will fund European activities in research and innovation. Minister Malas said emphasis must laid on small size businesses, on ventures between the public and the private sector to ensure that funds will be channeled to projects that would bring actual results. He expressed support for Commission proposals to simplify procedures through this programme, saying this would be to the benefit of researchers and academics. On the sidelines of the meeting, Malas conferred with his Danish counterpart and other officials with whom he discussed issues pertaining to Cyprus forthcoming EU presidency. [04] Bad weahter at Heathrow affects CYAirCyprus Airways has announced changes in its flying programme to and from Heathrow due to bad weather at this British airport, which has led to numerous cancellations of flights in and out of the UK.According to the spokesperson of the national carrier, Kyriakos Kyriakou, two flights have been cancelled and passengers will travel to London on Monday on other scheduled Cyprus Airways flights. The changes were made in response to a request by the British Airport Authorities to all airlines using Heathrow to reduce the number of their flights to and from the airport because of severe weather conditions, Kyriakou told CNA Sunday. A spokesman for Larnaca and Pafos airports said that by noon seven flights had been affected (two cancelled and five delayed). Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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