The resumption of negotiations from where they were suspended is the only way to exhaust every opportunity for a Cyprus settlement, AKEL General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou said on Monday.
His comments followed a meeting of the National Council, during which President Nikos Christodoulides briefed political party leaders on the visits to Cyprus by the UN Secretary-General and the European Commission’s envoy.
UN push for an informal meeting
Stefanou said AKEL considers it significant that the UN Secretary-General clearly expressed his intention to convene an informal expanded meeting aimed at restarting negotiations.
According to Stefanou, talks should resume from the point at which they were suspended, while preserving the convergences and the negotiating acquis. The process should then concentrate on the outstanding issues remaining from the 2017 Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana.
He said the United Nations is expected to undertake intensive efforts to create the conditions outlined by the Secretary-General during his visit to Cyprus, allowing the informal meeting to be convened.
Political will remains crucial
“AKEL has always insisted that the way to exhaust every possibility of achieving a solution is to resume negotiations from where they were suspended and, above all, to preserve the convergences,” Stefanou said.
“This is where we must focus and what we must work towards,” he added.
Stefanou said the desired outcome could be achieved if all parties involved, particularly Turkey, demonstrate the necessary political will.
Until then, he added, it remains to be seen whether the conditions requested by the UN Secretary-General can be established ahead of efforts to convene the informal expanded meeting.
Source: CNA.
