President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades held on Tuesday separate meetings with his counterparts from Armenia and Iraq on the sidelines of the COP27 Conference, that is taking place in Egypt.
A written statement by Government Spokesperson Marios Pelekanos says that President Anastasiades had meetings with President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan and President of Iraq Abdul Latif Rashid on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, that is taking place in Egypt.
He also held a brief meeting with the representative of the US government on Climate Change, John Kerry, with whom he discussed issues that are on the COP27 agenda.
During his meeting with his Armenian counterpart, they discussed about bilateral relations and ways to enhance them. President Anastasiades briefed his Armenian counterpart on the Cyprus issue and the continuous illegal Turkish actions both on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and in its maritime zones.
According to Pelekanos, he also talked about the instrumentalisation on behalf of Ankara of the immigration problem at the expense of the Republic of Cyprus . The President of the Republic thanked his Armenian counterpart for the firm position of principles that his country maintains as regards the Cyprus issue. The two Presidents also discussed about the situation in Armenia.
Furthermore, the spokesperson adds, they discussed about holding a tripartite Cyprus-Greece-Armenia summit in Yerevan and Armenia’s intention to open an Embassy in Cyprus as soon as possible. President Anastasiades reiterated the intention of the Cypriot Government to open an Embassy of the Republic in Armenia as well. Finally, the two Presidents discussed issues related to EU-Armenia relations.
Meanwhile, during his meeting with the President of Iraq, they discussed about bilateral relations and ways to further enhance them, as well as about the situation in Iraq, regional developments, energy issues, and the Cyprus issue.
The President of the Republic thanked the Iraqi President for his country’s stance of principles on the Cyprus issue and the efforts to reach a 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 last round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency