Cyprus President - UN SG Ban Ki-moon Meeting

From the Cyprus News Agency:

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos plans to ask UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to go on with the implementation of the 8 July 2006 agreement reached between the two sides in Cyprus.

President Papadopoulos arrived Saturday night in New York and he is scheduled to meet Sunday the UN Chief. During his stay in New York, the Cypriot President will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, meet the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on Thursday and have separate meetings with heads of state and government.

He told reporters on his arrival in New York that this was his first meeting with the UN Secretary General since the latter’s election and he was going to brief him on developments in the Cyprus problem.

Among those to meet in New York is US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns, who had announced his intention to visit Cyprus soon.

Asked to comment on a recent statement by Burns that he was optimistic that substantive progress could be reached by the end of 2007 in efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, President Papadopoulos said “it is our desire to use the period of time until the Presidential elections in Cyprus (February 2008) and I remind you that the latest UN Security Council resolution refers to preparations of negotiations. Every assistance in this direction is welcome.”