The meeting between the two leaders will go ahead as planned on 9 September, next Wednesday, while the two negotiators will meet on Monday, 7 September, Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said, adding that the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy, María Ángela Holguín, will arrive in Cyprus after the first ten days of the month.
North's political crisis does not affect planning
Briefing the media on Thursday, Letymbiotis was asked whether developments in the north would affect planning on the Cyprus problem. He said the United Nations General Assembly milestone remains in place. "The milestone of the expiry of the UN secretary-general's mandate terms next December remains. Our own determination is, of course, undiminished," he said.
He described the decision for regular leaders' meetings as very important, "which we not only welcome, but will seek to see continue," adding that Holguín is coming to prepare for the period ahead, following her own meeting with the secretary-general aimed at further coordinating efforts to converge toward the next expanded conference.
Condolences over the shipwreck
Letymbiotis repeated the government's "deep sorrow for the unjust loss of several people in a shipwreck with many fatalities," and noted that the Greek Cypriot side had responded from the first moment, expressing readiness to assist "in whatever way was possible."
Isaak-Solomou arrest warrants
Asked whether the president would raise with the Turkish Cypriot leader the issue of arrest warrants over the killings of Tassos Isaak and Solomos Solomou, "prompting also by the removal of Erhan Arıklı," the spokesperson said the matter of outstanding international arrest warrants does not concern the dialogue between the two leaders. "These are matters in which the Republic of Cyprus, as a full EU member state and a UN member state, has acceded through the legally established procedures, and through those legally established procedures takes all the necessary institutional measures that can be taken," he said.
Source: CNA
