Christodoulides meets Guterres in New York

Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, meets on Friday in New York with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.

This is the first official meeting that Nikos Christodoulides will have with Guterres, at the UN headquarters, since his election at the Presidency of the Republic in February this year. The meeting takes place at a crucial period for the Cyprus problem, as Nicosia pursues to reactivate the process for a Cyprus settlement, through the appointment of a UNSG envoy, who will look into the prospects for the resumption of dialogue.

Therefore, Christodoulides will reiterate to the UNSG, during the meeting, the request for the appointment of an envoy within the framework of efforts for the resumption of the negotiations from where they were left off, recalling his proposal for a more active engagement of the EU in the Cyprus problem, within the spectrum of the EU-Turkey relations course, and always under the UN auspices.

Christodoulides-Guterres meeting is scheduled to begin at 1210 and is expected to last for approximately 15 minutes. Almost an hour after, at 1305 Guterres will meet with the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The efforts for the resumption of the process for the Cyprus question and the need for the appointment of a UNSG envoy will be the focus of a working lunch which President Christodoulides will host also on Friday for the Permanent Representatives of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. The President had meetings on Thursday in New York with officials of two countries which are Permanent Members of the Security Council, the US Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland and the Vice President of China, Han Zheng, who both expressed their support to the appointment of a UNSG envoy on the Cyprus question.

Meanwhile the possibility for a trilateral meeting between Guterres, President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, is still on the cards, even before Saturday evening when Christodoulides is scheduled to depart from New York. The UNSG is scheduled to meet with Tatar on Saturday morning. There is also a possibility that a trilateral meeting will not take place now, but the Secretary - General will invite the two leaders to a joint meeting in the near future, according to diplomatic sources.

The meeting which Guterres is expected to have with the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Hakan Fidan, will also play an important role as regards the developments in the Cyprus question. Guterres will meet Fidan after his meeting with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that was going to take place on Tuesday, was postponed.

Fidan met on Thursday in New York with the EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Borrell said in a post on social media that he and Fidan spoke about next steps in EU-Turkey relations, ahead of the report he will present with the European Commission to the European Council and that they also discussed the highly concerning situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile, apart from the meetings with the UN Secretary General, interested parties in the Cyprus problem are also having contacts with other officials of the UN Secretariat. The negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side, Menelaos Menelaou, had on Wednesday and Thursday meetings in New York with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

On Friday evening President Christodoulides and his spouse Philippa Karsera Christodoulides and the members of the Cypriot delegation will travel to Queens to attend a dinner hosted in honour of the President by organizations of the diaspora.

During the dinner the organizations will honour the former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, with the Freedom Award.

Christodoulides' meetings with Exxon and CVC Capital Partners Advisory

On Thursday afternoon Christodoulides had meetings with a delegation of Exxon and a Partner of the CVC Capital Partners Advisory investment company.

The Presidency said that during the meeting with Exxon issues concerning the plans of the company concerning the blocks of the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zones within it operates were discussed.

Moreover, Christodoulides and the Exxon delegation discussed developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the actions taken by the Cyprus government to implement its plans in the Cypriot EEZ.

The meeting was also attended by Government Spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, the Deputy Director of the President's Diplomatic Office, Doros Venezis and other officials.

During the meeting with CVC Capital Partners Advisory the company's experience in relation to its recent investments in Cyprus in the health sector was discussed, as well as possible future investments in the health, infrastructure and education sectors.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.