President engages in diplomatic dialogue with Cuellar

Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Friday that a meeting between President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and UNSG's personal envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin is scheduled to take place in the first ten days of May.

CNA has learnt that the first meeting of the President of Cyprus with the UNSG's personal envoy will take place on May 8th.

Asked after a meeting of the National Council if the proposal of the UN Secretary General is still on the table, the Spokesperson said that they are expecting Holguin "in the first ten days of May when a meeting with the President of the Republic is scheduled, to see what the next steps are in relation to this proposal of the UN General Secretary, which we are still waiting to see how it can be implemented."

He added that the government has responded in a positive way from the first moment and considers that every action of the United Nations, especially the UN Secretary General, to help the effort to restart the negotiations is in the right direction.

According to sources, before her arrival in Cyprus, Holguin will have contacts in Berlin, Paris, Brussels and maybe in Ankara as well. In Brussels, she is expected to meet with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira, and Head of the DG for Structural Reform Support Mario Nava as well as with the Permanent Representatives of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.

In Germany she will have meetings with the President of the country and the diplomatic office of the Chancellor, in Paris with the diplomatic advisers of the French President, while it is not ruled out that she will also go to Ankara where she will have a meeting at the level of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Referring to the National Council, the country's top advisory body, which met today for around three hours, the Spokesperson recalled that this was the sixth time that the National Council is being convened by President Christodoulides.

During the meeting, he added, the President of the Republic informed the members of the National Council about his contacts with the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General and the UN Secretary-General himself in Brussels last month. He added that they exchanged views about the upcoming visit of the UNSG's personal envoy beginning of May.

Moreover, he said that the President of the Republic analysed the Conclusions of the last European Council, in which a clear connection between the progress of the EU-Turkey relations and the progress in the Cyprus issue has been included.

This, the Spokesperson added, is the result of the government's efforts over the past year and recalled that this was the strategy, which the President had the opportunity to present during the first meeting of the National Council last March, a year ago.

He also expressed the view that what has been achieved sends a positive, very specific message to Turkey through a gradual, proportional and reversible approach which the Republic of Cyprus sought from the beginning.

Letymbiotis also said that the members of the National Council expressed their positions and opinions, adding that they are taken into account by the President of the Republic and will be evaluated.

"There was a very productive discussion in a very constructive atmosphere with a constructive approach from all members of the National Council," he added.

He said that the President informed the members of the National Council about the Immigration issue and the measures taken by the government, as well as about the upcoming visit he will pay to Lebanon together with the President of the European Commission on May 2.

The Spokesperson said that the President informed about the progress and the next steps, in the context of the initiative of the Republic of Cyprus "Amaltheia" for the creation of a maritime corridor to provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza and how the infrastructure that the US is building in Gaza will allow the flow of humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza to increase and intensify.