Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 99-03-19

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

Friday, 19 March 1999

CONTENTS

• [01] Government appointments
• [02] Kasoulides meets with Austrian Foreign Minister
• [03] British Foreign Secretary is satisfied with Cyprus' talks for EU accession

[01] Government appointments

Veteran journalist Costas Serezis has been appointed Government Spokesman to replace Christos Stylianides, who resigned on Tuesday while chartered accountant Takis Clerides will take over the Finance Ministry from Christodoulos Christodoulou, who moves to the Interior Ministry, following the resignation of Dinos Michaelides from the post.

The three men were sworn in at a special ceremony at the Presidential Palace today and will take up their duties on Monday.

[02] Kasoulides meets with Austrian Foreign Minister

Schussel was speaking after a meeting in Vienna with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who is on a tour of European countries for talks with his counterparts in Bonn, Vienna and Brussels.

Asked if he supports a divided Cyprus joining the EU, Mr Schussel pointed out that the best thing to do would be to intensify efforts to reunite the island in parallel with the accession negotiations.

In his remarks, Mr Kasoulides described his talks "very frank and useful" and thanked Austria, who had the six-monthly rotating EU presidency in the second part of 1998, for its positive role in efforts to start accession negotiations in November last year.

Kasoulides briefed his Austrian counterpart on attempts to resume the Cyprus peace talks in the summer in New York and referred to the support expressed by the G8 group (the seven most industrialised countries plus Russia).

The situation in the Balkans, Greco-Turkish relations, the arrest of the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) leader Abdullah Ocalan and Turkey's position on Cyprus were some of the issues discussed at today's meeting between the two ministers.

Kasoulides also met the President of the Austrian Parliament Heinz Fischer whom he briefed on the latest developments in the Cyprus question.

The Minister also addressed the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and gave a lecture on "Cyprus on the way to the EU" at the EU's office in the Austrian capital.

He returns to the island on Saturday.

[03] British Foreign Secretary is satisfied with Cyprus' talks for EU accession

Mr Cook was speaking to a delegation from the National Cyprus Federation of Great Britain, led by its chairman Haris Sofoklides, and accompanied by British MPs Joan Ryan, Andrew Dismore and Stephen Twigg.

From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/

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