United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has expressed his willingness and readiness to engage himself in the Cyprus negotiation process whenever the time is appropriate. The UN Chief also expressed the hope that during the two rounds of negotiations this month, the leaders of the two communities will be able to agree on longstanding issues.
Replying to questions after the informal briefing of the UN General Assembly on the organization’s agenda for 2010, the UN Chief said he was ``reasonably encouraged by the recent process of negotiations on Cyprus.``
Pointing out that he has spoken with the leaders of both communities in Cyprus and the leaders of other countries, including Turkey, he said `I sincerely hope that they will make significant progress.
Noting that the leaders have met 60 times with the help of his Special Advisor Alexander Downer, Mr Ban said he has been ``urging both leaders that this is the time for them to make decisions on the basis of flexibility and compromise,``.
He stated that the leaders have discussed all the remaining issues and now they are focusing their negotiations on critically important issues. ``I sincerely hope that during the two rounds of negotiations this month they will be able to agree on these longstanding issues` he added.