[04] New York talks aim at preparing the ground for a comprehensive
solution
The UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Cyprus Mr Alvaro de Soto has
said that proximity talks beginning today in New York will prepare the
ground for meaningful negotiations leading to a comprehensive settlement.
Mr de Soto, who was briefing the press yesterday at the UN Headquarters in
New York, also said that it would be "adventurous to expect that any
agreement is likely to emerge on substantive questions during this round of
proximity talks". However, he added, the talks will address the core issues
of the Cyprus problem, namely Security, Distribution of Powers, Property
and Territory.
Mr de Soto also announced that the US Presidential Emissary Mr Moses is
going to deliver today to the UN Secretary General a letter from President
Clinton.
Asked to define its content Mr de Soto refrained from revealing it, but
according to press reports President Clinton's move indicates the
importance attached by Washington to the successful conclusion of the
talks.
Members of the Security Council yesterday expressed the hope that the
parties to the upcoming proximity talks on Cyprus would participate in the
discussions "without preconditions and in a constructive spirit".
"Cyprus is a matter which the Security Council continues to follow with the
closest interest", the Council President Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of
the United Kingdom, said in a press statement after the Council heard a
briefing on the talks by Alvaro de Soto, the Secretary-General's Special
Adviser on Cyprus. "The Council has stated repeatedly that the status quo
in Cyprus is unacceptable".
The President of the Republic Mr Glafcos Clerides held yesterday in New
York separate meetings with Britain's Special Envoy for Cyprus Sir David
Hannay, Greece's envoys to the talks Ambassadors Messrs Sandis and
Rodousakis and with the US Delegation consisting of Presidential Emissary
Mr Alfred Moses, State Department's Special Co-coordinator Mr.Thomas Weston
and US Ambassador to Cyprus Mr Donald Bandler.
Cyprus Government Spokesman Mr Michalis Papapetrou has stressed that
President Glafcos Clerides intends to participate in a process which will
discuss the core issues of the Cyprus question, namely the constitutional
aspect, security, property and territory.
The Spokesman also said President Clerides got firm assurances from the US
and the UN that the proximity talks beginning today in New York will be
substantive and will aim at preparing the ground for a comprehensive
solution of the Cyprus question.
From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/