“We see the UN Secretary-General seeking to achieve a positive outcome through his specific actions regarding the Cyprus issue, and we are here to support his efforts,” said the President of the Republic, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, today. Referring to Cyprus-Jordan relations, he highlighted the excellent ties between the two countries.
In remarks following his meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in New York, the President of the Republic said, “It was a very interesting discussion, particularly regarding regional developments. As you know, we are working very closely with Jordan as two countries that engage with all our neighboring states, in order to determine how we can create the conditions for security, stability, and cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.
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I should mention that we also had a joint initiative with Jordan to establish a regional firefighting center in Cyprus, and I thanked the King for Jordan’s presence in Cyprus.
Beyond that, we exchanged views specifically on how Cyprus, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon—four neighboring countries—can collaborate on a number of specific projects primarily related to the connectivity of our countries, which will also contribute to the region’s connectivity.
We also discussed, of course, regional developments and Turkey’s role in light of what we are seeing in the broader Middle East, and Jordan is one of the countries in that region.
Let me remind you that this meeting follows our visit to Egypt, our meeting with the Egyptian President, the Israeli President’s visit to Cyprus, and now our meeting with the King of Jordan. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will hold several meetings with all the foreign ministers of the countries in the region. And our goal, building on the successful Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU—during which we demonstrated in practice the role we play— is to see how conditions can be created for further cooperation toward achieving our common goal of stability, security, and cooperation in the region.”
In response to a journalist’s remark that last night, speaking before the Cypriot diaspora, he stated that he does not rule out the possibility of developments in the Cyprus issue, and when asked whether there are any indications from the United Nations to that effect and whether the convergence document has been prepared, the President of the Republic said that “what I can tell you is that I did indeed mention that we do not rule out positive developments because, from the very moment we arrived here, we have observed quite a few—I would describe them as behind-the-scenes— meetings that do not come to public attention, with the aim of creating, this week with all parties involved present in New York, to create the conditions for positive developments—and positive developments can mean nothing other than the announcement of the resumption of talks from where they were interrupted in Crans-Montana, through an expanded conference.
So, as we speak, many contacts are taking place—I repeat, contacts that do not see the light of day—and this is an indication of the Secretary-General’s personal interest; it is something we welcome, it is something we support, and it is something we desire more than anyone else—that these developments take place—and we will see how they unfold based on the discussions.
I truly believe— as I have said and conveyed in discussions I’ve had here, that if there is political will, we can achieve this goal, and I am pleased because it is also something the Secretary-General himself desires. We see him pursuing it through concrete actions. We are here to support his efforts, and let’s hope we’ll achieve a positive outcome.”
