President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, is traveling to New York, where he will address the 81st United Nations General Assembly. During his stay in New York, he will hold a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, his Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, as well as heads of state or government and heads of organizations and multinational companies.
A press release by the Presidency says that the President will also hold contacts with representatives of the Cypriot diaspora.
President Christodoulides will begin his contacts on Sunday evening, September 20, with a meeting with the heads of the Greek diaspora organizations, during which he will inform them about the developments as regards the Cyprus issue.
On the next day, September 21, he will have a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, while in the afternoon he will participate in a Summit co-organized by the President of the European Council Antonio Costa and the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, on multilateralism, international law, peace and prosperity.
On September 22, President Christodoulides will attend the opening of the Plenary Session of the Summit, during which the UN Secretary-General will present his Progress Report. On the same day, the President of the Republic will have a meeting with President of Chevron’s Base Assets and Emerging Countries Department, Javier la Rosa.
He will then hold a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin.
On September 23, the President of the Republic will address the Plenary Session of the UN General Assembly.
Later, he will participate in the proceedings of the High-Level Meeting convened by the UN Secretary-General on Climate Change, during which he will make an intervention.
In the afternoon, he will have a meeting with Vice President of ExxonMobil, John Ardill.
On September 24, the President of the Republic will attend a working breakfast organized by the Antenna Group and the Atlantic Council, entitled “Consolidating EU-Gulf Cooperation for Regional Security and Prosperity”.
Later on, President Christodoulides will have a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the Secretary-General’s Office, in the UN building.
He will then host a luncheon for the Permanent Representatives of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.
On the morning of September 25, the President of the Republic will meet with Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, Han Zheng, and then with representatives of the AJC.
Before departing from New York, President Christodoulides will attend a dinner organized in his honor by organisations of the Cypriot diaspora.
President Christodoulides, who will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Constantinos Kombos, Government Spokesperson, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, and Greek Cypriot Negotiator, Menelaos Menelaou, will return to Cyprus on the evening of September 26.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.