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Ι am delighted to receive my
good colleague and friend Dominic Raab in Nicosia.
This is the Minister’s first –
of many I am certain – visit to Cyprus since 2016, and following the United
Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. It heralds the opening of a new, very
promising chapter in the long history book of the special relationship Cyprus
and the United Kingdom share. Our countries have been close partners within
the EU, and I assure you that our effective rapport will continue and will be
strengthened.
Your visit Dom is as important
as it is timely, given that it also coincides with efforts by the UN
Secretary General to resume negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of
the Cyprus Problem for a bi-zonal bi-communal federation.
With the Secretary of State, we
discussed at length the diverse, long-standing partnership Cyprus and the UK
enjoy, and the array of shared interests. As close partners, we also
exchanged notes on issues on which we do not see eye-to-eye, and on which we
will continue discussing.
The potential for advancing our
relations is immense and the goal is common – to build a strategic
partnership with the UK. An array of fields is open for enhanced cooperation,
ranging from education, technology and business to security and defense. To
this direction, we discussed ways of building on the momentum created by this
visit, and mapping out concrete steps in the immediate and longer term.
As expected, and following his
meeting with President Anastasiades earlier today, Dom and I discussed
extensively the latest developments with regard to the Cyprus problem.
Needless to say that the UK’s role – both as a result of its capacity as a
contracting party to the Treaty of Establishment and the Treaty of Guarantee,
as well as its capacity as a Permanent Member of the Security Council – is of
critical importance.
I shared with Dom our
expectation that negotiations will resume soon, from the point where they
were suspended at Crans-Montana and reiterated our unequivocal commitment to
this end. I specifically expressed our declared readiness to continue
negotiations on the basis of the framework of the UN Secretary General, the
existing convergences and the joint declaration of February 2014, while
expressing the hope that the same level of commitment will be displayed by
all involved.
It has to be abundantly clear
that a comprehensive settlement must be in line with UN Security Council
Resolutions, the UN Charter, EU law values and principles. Reunited Cyprus
must be a functional state, a viable member state of the EU, a stable,
reliable actor in its region. A modern European state not tied back by
anachronistic systems and structures that have no place in the 21st century.
Dom and I agree that as we
strive for a meaningful process, it is important to impress upon
everyone involved the need to refrain from provocations that pose the
risk of derailing the effort. Dominic is a scholar of international law, and
very much understands the importance of upholding international law,
including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
As regards Varoshia in
particular, I noted the UK’s constructive stance on agreeing on a strong
Presidential Statement by the Security Council last October and I repeated
how regretful it is that despite international condemnation, Turkey was not
deterred from proceeding with the implementation of its violations within the
fenced area, contrary to UNSCRs.
Concerning developments in our
region, I had the opportunity to brief Dominic on the active engagement of
Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf together with a good number
of likeminded states, within the expanding framework of our trilateral
cooperation platforms, aiming
to foster synergies through a positive agenda. The vision is to strengthen
the prospects of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
I emphasized that this positive
agenda network is diversifying to include partners with a common
geopolitical vision with the aim of preparing the ground for more
extended and institutionalised regional partnerships. The UK knows the region
well, and we certainly see prospects for enhanced cooperation on this front
as well.
Dear Dominic,
Before turning the floor to
you, I wish to thank you for this visit and for our excellent rapport.
I look forward to continuing
our deliberations over lunch.
(EK/SCH)
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