The meeting that will take place between the Presidents of the USA and Cyprus on Wednesday will have symbolic as well as special political weight, said Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos.
Asked after the meeting he had in Nicosia with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, what to expect from the meeting on Wednesday in Washington between the President of the Republic and the American President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that we expect to have a productive discussion at the highest level, a discussion which will be a continuation of the strategic dialogue we had a few days ago in Nicosia.
He mentioned that that agenda was particularly important in terms of the subject matter, progress which was achieved and added that "the upgrade now to the level of the Presidents of the two states will be of particular importance because it has both symbolic and special political weight".
In terms of the agenda, he said, they will discuss issues related to bilateral relations on a number of issues related to relations at the level of citizens, business-to-business relations, investment issues, issues related to bilateral cooperation in the area where the situation, as he mentioned, is extremely difficult.
Mr. Kombos reminded that there is a cooperation that goes back several months with the USA, and it is something that both sides want to build further. They will also discuss, he said, "issues that concern the removal of citizens, that is, how a crisis in the region is managed on the basis of a synchronized reaction or assistance from our side to the USA".
Of course, he said, the Cyprus issue cannot be absent from this discussion, stressing that "for us it is a matter of existential importance".
"It will be raised from our side, but we take it for granted that it will also be raised from the American side," the Minister said.
He said that from the agenda it is understood that the meeting concerns a wide range of issues, it is not monothematic, and we should wait to see the results and the announcements that will be made.
When asked if there will be any message from Washington regarding the Cyprus issue, he said that a very important message from the point of view of symbolism, which is of particular political importance, is that the President of the Republic of Cyprus will be in Washington for a meeting with the President of the USA.
"The things about two states, about sovereign equality, all this rhetoric, which escapes the framework of the UN Security Council, this specific meeting as well as everything that has been happening all this time in relation to the role and the status and how this situation is indeed manifested in what concerns the Republic of Cyprus, I believe that the messages are absolutely clear and unambiguous and I hope that from the side of Turkey and from the side of the Turkish leadership they will be accepted, perceived, as a serious message about how to to proceed further with intensive substantive negotiations within the framework set by the UN Security Council", the Minister emphasized.
Asked whether to expect any announcements either on the visa or on another matter, Mr. Kombos said that we will have to see how the discussion develops.
"I cannot now prejudge whether there will be any result in terms of announcements given that a few days ago in the context of the strategic dialogue there were announcements regarding tangible results regarding the first step," he said.
"This was the first meeting in the framework of the strategic dialogue, we should all be a little patient to see what can emerge in the next few hours," he added.
Asked if there is any response from the UN regarding the letter sent by the President of the Republic, Mr. Kombos pointed out that "we do not have an answer and it is not something that is customary in such a short period of time".
He said that it is a letter in which we expressed our thanks for the initiative of the UN Secretary General and on the other hand our appeal for the UN to move quickly to the next steps.
"We do not currently have any further information as to when we can go further down, it is our stated intention to do so as soon as possible," he said.
Asked if it would be within the year, he said "we would like it to be even tomorrow".
Source: KYPE
