U.S. Efforts to Continue Following Kasoulides Visit

Kasoulides briefed U.S. officials and members of Congress on developments in Cyprus. During meetings with the House International Relations Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee members and others, Kasoulides called for the continuation of intercommunal talks, in accordance with the relevant U.N. resolutions.

The minister also met with Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering and other State Department, National Security Council and Pentagon officials.

Speaking to the press, the Foreign Minister said he had received assurances that "the U.S. government will continue its intensive efforts for a change in the Turkish position in order to open the way towards a resolution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation."

In any further talks, he said, "it must be made clear that negotiations will be within the framework of the U.N. resolutions providing for a settlement based on a single state and sovereignty and a single citizenship and international personality. I believe I have received sincere assurances that these three conditions will be positively dealt with by the U.S. and the Congress will support them."

On May 21, the U.N. Security Council reiterated that efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue should continue through intercommunal talks. In a letter addressed to the Secretary General Kofi Annan, the President of the Security Council, Njuguna Mahugu, stated that council members, "reiterated their strong support for your mission of good offices for Cyprus and for the efforts of your special adviser on Cyprus, Mr. Diego Cordovez, on the basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions."

State Department Special Coordinator for Cyprus, Thomas Miller, departed the island May 28 after his latest round of consultations.  Foreign Minister Kasoulides, who attended Miller’s meeting with President Glafcos Clerides described the talks as "useful," and said the government received assurances that U.S. efforts to settle the Cyprus issue will "continue."

During his three-day visit, Miller also met with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and gave an address on "U.S. efforts to help solve the Cyprus problem: The view from Washington" at a business conference in Nicosia.

Miller said time was working against a Cyprus settlement, but added that the U.S. was determined to continue its search for a solution: "Like any complex challenge, there are bound to be ups and downs.  You can’t cut and run the first time the going gets tough, or you will never get the solution you need." He continued: "A solution in Cyprus remains a high priority for the U.S., and all parties engaged have asked us to remain involved." Miller said that President Clinton is "clearly committed to a solution," and that "we pledge to do all we can to assist U.N. efforts."

Miller’s mission comes barely a month after his last visit to Cyprus accompanying Presidential Emissary Richard Holbrooke.  Following a round of talks, Holbrooke put the blame for the Cyprus stalemate squarely on the Turkish side, for demanding recognition of the illegal regime in occupied Cyprus as a precondition for resuming intercommunal talks, a position he termed "not realistic."

The Republic of Cyprus is in the process of entering the EU, and the Turkish Cypriots are still refusing to participate in the Cyprus delegation negotiating EU accession. They are demanding that the process stop as another condition for resuming intercommunal negotiations. Miller responded to that in Nicosia by saying, "The U.S. fully supports and continues to support Cyprus’s application to the EU."
 

"No Fly" Zone Discussed

Secretary of State Madeliene Albright has also been giving Cyprus a high priority. At a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg May 29, she held separate one-hour meetings with Greece’s Theodoros Pangalos and Turkey’s Ismail Cem to discuss the Cyprus issue and their differences over the Aegean Sea.

Pangalos said afterward that the talks included his recent proposal for confidence-building measures to avoid incidents in the Aegean.  On June 4, NATO announced that Greece and Turkey intend to implement the measures originally agreed to in 1988.

Greek Foreign Minister Pangalos’s "no fly zone" proposal is also being studied. U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Kenneth Brill recently confirmed that the proposal is under discussion. Pangalos has said the idea should be examined if the U.S. and NATO would consider guaranteeing such a "no fly zone" of military flights over Cyprus.  Such a development would lessen tension and could start the process of the demilitarization of Cyprus.

Albright had been due to travel to Greece and Turkey after the NATO session, but cancelled the trip after the Holbrooke mission ended in the face of the new Turkish demands.
 

U.S. Unhappy With Turkey

There was, he added, no reason to abandon the process, stressing that what was needed was harder work "to persuade those who are not yet ready to move the process ahead."

Representative Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) took to the floor of the House of Representatives to encourage U.S. efforts. He told members that the Turkish demands for recognition of their illegal entity are "ridiculous and unacceptable." He also said that U.S.  diplomatic efforts should focus on Ankara rather than the Turkish Cypriots.

Representative Donald Payne (D-N.J.) writing in the Spring 1998 issue of Mediterranean Quarterly reflects this view when he states: "Policymakers in Washington and the U.N. should properly define the Cyprus problem; it is aggression on the part of Turkey against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a fully recognized member of the world community. It is not a communal strife. . . . It is aggression by one state against another and a violation of basic norms of international law. A total of 99 U.N. Security Council resolutions and 13 General Assembly resolutions have been adopted urging an end to the occupation of Cyprus; none was enforced."

On May 28 during a visit to Cyprus, Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Don Nickles (R-Neb.) met with President Clerides and supported continuing U.S. diplomatic efforts and reunification of the island. Noting the division of the capital Nicosia, Lieberman said "no other city in the world is divided like this." He also said he personally thought, "the ultimate goal here should be demilitarization of the island."
 
 

EU Task Force sees a Smooth Accession

Speaking on arrival at Larnaca Airport, van der Pas declared: "Progress has been smooth, we have not discovered up to now any serious difficulties which would require negotiation with the Cypriot side."

The EU team met with President Glafcos Clerides, House President Spyros Kyprianou, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou and Cyprus’s chief negotiator for the accession talks George Vassiliou. They also met with the permanent secretaries of all the ministries, with officials from the Attorney General’s office and representatives of the private sector.

Referring to the accession process, President Clerides said at the opening of the 23rd Cyprus International Fair:  "Today, on the threshold of the 21st century, the Cyprus economy has to go through a difficult course. Cyprus’s aspiration to join the European Union, and the new competitive climate that is developing do not leave room for hesitation and delay. We are entering a new era where new ideas, new products, and services and new technologies and know-how are developing and circulating with unprecedented speed."

"Our basic strategic aim has clear objectives:  The creation of a strong economy, able to survive competition in the large market of the European Union and the further promotion of Cyprus as an important hub of economic, trade and business activity in this vital geographic region."

Obvious Lead
Representatives of the EU negotiating team, screening the telecommunications, research and technology fields, said that Cyprus has an "obvious lead" over the other five states that opened accession talks in March, adding "the Cypriots give the impression that they are very well prepared for the screening procedure."

Screening for compatibility in all 31 fields included in the European accession process is expected to be completed within a few months, and each report will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers as it is completed.

In early May the International Monetary Fund preliminary report on Cyprus’s economy stated that the economy is experiencing a satisfactory comeback in terms of growth rate and stabilization.

Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou noted that the report calls for measures to reduce the fiscal deficit within the next two to three years to keep it under the 3 percent limit in order to adhere to the Maastricht criterion. He underscored Cyprus’s determination to do so at a Nicosia business conference on May 25.  "The government is aiming toward a gradual reduction of the fiscal deficit so by the year 2000 it conforms with the relevant Maastricht criteria," he said.

Turkish Aspirations
As to the issue of Turkey’s EU aspirations and the problem of a divided Cyprus, at the G-8 summit in England, British Prime Minister Tony Blair reiterated on May 18 that,  "We have a deep concern over what is happening in Cyprus and we believe it is essential to make progress in this area." We should, "give a very clear signal to Turkey about our proper and true intentions and also to do what we can to bring hope in the conflict in Cyprus," he added.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook reinforced this point in an interview in Ankara with the Turkish daily Milliyet: "The EU is convinced that reaching a solution in Cyprus will benefit all sides. We were disappointed that a political solution was not reached before the accession talks between the EU and Cyprus began last March.

"Our goal is that both communities benefit from Cyprus’s accession to the EU. A proposal was made for giving the Turkish Cypriots a real right of say in these talks. It is sad that so far the Turkish Cypriots did not accept the proposal. . . . Our goal for the Cyprus issue is a bicommunal, bizonal federation. This is why we believe talks must resume under U.N. auspices."

Why Go Backwards?
There is no talk of reversing Cyprus’s accession to the EU. On May 22, when asked at a Washington press conference if Cyprus would delay its accession to the EU in order to accommodate Turkish demands, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides replied, "Why go backward to go forward?"  Kasoulides added that no developments in the Cyprus problem were likely until after the late June EU Cardiff summit.

Kasoulides said Ankara’s stance is a well-calculated effort to blame the EU for the deadlock in the Cyprus problem, adding that Turkey is trying to make Europeans feel guilty in order to satisfy its demands.

The EU had asked Turkey to be constructive in efforts to settle the Cyprus question, iron out relations with Greece and improve its human rights record and economy.

Irish Example
In a two-day visit to Ireland in late May, Minister Kasoulides noted that "the course of history of the two countries has many similarities."

He also described the recent agreement concerning Northern Ireland as "important," pointing out that "there are many lessons and examples to be learnt from the way this agreement was achieved."

Kasoulides said he considers the fact that both the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom are EU members as one of the main reasons of success in Northern Ireland.

"This encourages us that Cyprus’s accession course will act as a catalyst for the smooth reunification of the island," the Foreign Minister concluded.
 

U.S. Showcases Products as No.1 Exporter to Cyprus

The U.S. pavilion itself has grown in size by 15 percent this year, and the extra space is being filled by several exciting new exhibitors. Among the new exhibits are Jeep, Ford Explorer luxury four-wheel drive vehicles, LA-Z-BOY reclining chairs and Walt Disney Products, as well as voice recognition systems and hand-held air conditioners. Among the companies returning to the fair are Black and Decker, General Electric, Goodyear, Harley Davidson motorcycles and Timex.

U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Brill said the fair was both "an excellent opportunity to showcase" American products in Cyprus. Last year, he said, the American share of Cyprus’s total imports rose to 19 percent, from 17.8 in 1996, the third year in which the figure has risen.

Brill said that Cyprus’s EU accession process and the need to harmonize with EU legislation had put the island on the path to economic liberalization. He said America’s "sincere wish" was that accession would ultimately benefit all Cypriots.

He added, however, that there was "broad agreement" in the business community that "still more changes are needed to give Cyprus the necessary tools to deal successfully with the challenges of the future."
 

Cyprus Industry to be Restructured

Addressing the conference on "Doing Business with Cyprus" on May 26 in Nicosia, Mr. Rolandis analyzed the government’s policy for restructuring the island’s economy emphasizing that the focus over the next five years will be on further technological advancement, the attraction of big foreign investors and the reformulation of the island’s energy policy.

He added that Cyprus’s industry, which accounts for 12 percent of gross domestic product and 16 percent of employment, consists mainly of light industries producing such items as clothing, footwear, food, furniture, plastics and pharmaceuticals.

He stressed the need for the island’s industry to stop being focused on traditional sectors with small industrial units, saying that emphasis is now being placed on developing a more advanced production system where industrial units concentrate on the production of high-quality and high
value-added products.
 

Cyprus is Praised For Patent Law Enforcement

In Nicosia, U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Brill said the decision was taken after Cyprus passed "a fair and balanced legislation on patents" last April.

A U.S. press release said, "this confirms Cyprus’s emerging role as an internationally recognized business center," and that the action should improve the island’s ability to attract international investment.
 

World Bank Reports Cyprus Ranks 16th Internationally

The report based on 1996 figures includes 130 countries. The gross national product of Cyprus in terms of purchasing power parity is $20,490 and is higher than that of 8 of the 15 members of the EU including the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Cyprus also ranks much higher than the other 5 candidate countries for accession to the EU.

This very positive evaluation by the World Bank of the economy of the Republic of Cyprus confirms the findings of previous reports by the EU, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Standards and Poors and Moody’s.
 

Ambitious Privatization Plan Starts With Two Airports

The government’s majority control is intended to ensure that the public interest is served as regards national security, passenger security and protection of the environment.

Since there are no companies in Cyprus with the required technical know-how for this task, a foreign company, specifically European, is likely to be given the project.

The decision comes as a four-member ministerial committee begins to examine the best method for selling off shares in other government controlled organizations.

Cyprus Airways, the Cyprus Development Bank, the Hilton Hotel, the Forestry Industries, the Refineries and the Pan-Cyprian Bakery Company are all on the list for partial privatization.

[  Home ] [ Up ]
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in the United States of America
2211 R. Street., North West, Washington D.C. 20008.
Copyright © 1994 - 2000 Kypros-Net Inc. All rights reserved.