President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides stressed the potential of Cyprus to become a model of extroversion and cooperation in the region, acting as a bridge between the Eastern Mediterranean and the EU, during his speech on Friday, April 28, at Delphi Economic Forum.
“We are facing a historic decision, which will determine whether we will choose introversion and isolation or whether we will dare to make our country, which is a member state of the EU and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, a model of extroversion, development and cooperation,” he said.
In this context, he pointed out that during his term he is determined to pursue a policy of “strengthening cooperation, revitalizing multilateralism and institutionalizing dialogue.”
Against this backdrop, he referred to the exemplary role played by the multilateral and trilateral cooperation schemes with regional states in which Cyprus and Greece both participate.
He also made a special reference to the energy role that the Eastern Mediterranean region can play in the EU’s efforts to decouple from Russian gas.
“The day after the war in Ukraine may find the role of the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East for Europe even stronger,” Christodoulides said, underlining the vital contribution that Cyprus could have in this direction.
Such a multilateral and outward-looking policy is capable of “strengthening our efforts to break the deadlock on the Cyprus problem”, President Christodoulides stressed, describing this issue as “the highest priority of his administration”. He also referred to his vision for a leading role of the EU, always within the framework of the United Nations.
“Our goal is to link Euro-Turkish relations with the resumption of negotiations for the settlement of the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed form of solution, with a content aligned with European standards,” he said.
In a brief discussion that followed his speech, Christodoulides made it clear that for his government “not resolving the Cyprus problem is not an option”. As he noted, “the continuation of the current state of affairs is disastrous for the Cypriot people as a whole, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and is very negative for the region”. “On our part, we will do everything on our power to create the conditions for a solution,” he assured.
Finally, in the presence of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was attending the event, Nikos Christodoulides thanked Greece for its continuous and long-standing support to the efforts for a Cyprus solution.
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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency