The
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, met today, in
Washington DC, with the Secretary of State of the United States of
America, Mr John Kerry.
Before
their meeting, the two officials made the following statements to the
Press:
US
Secretary of State:
Well, good morning, everybody. I'm delighted to welcome Foreign
Minister Kasoulides of Cyprus. And it's a real pleasure. We saw
each other last May. We have been talking and working on the issue
of trying to find peace for Cyprus, a reunification of the island, an
bizonal, bicommunal federation policy. President Anastasiades and the
Foreign Minister have taken leadership in trying to bring a long
sought after resolution to this. And we are privileged to work with
them in that effort.
We're
very supportive of this initiative. It's my hope to be in Nicosia
and perhaps in Athens somewhere in the next weeks if not early
months. We've been talking about a visit for some time.
And
we want to try to be helpful in this process. There are exciting
things happening, and we respect and appreciate Cyprus' efforts to
work on a number of different fronts. Most importantly, Cyprus has
been really helpful. A partner, strategic partner, in a number of
initiatives and most importantly, with respect to Syria, for the
removal of chemical weapons. That leadership, that partnership is
absolutely critical to all of us.
There
are new economic opportunities in the energy sector, looking at
Cyprus.
So
we have a lot to talk about today, and I want to impress on everybody
our respect for and gratitude for the leadership that is currently
being provided by the current administration, and we look forward to
continuing to work with it.
So
welcome, Mr. Foreign Minister. We're happy to have you here.
Minister
of Foreign Affairs:
Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you very much.
I
would like to thank Secretary Kerry for this meeting. It is the
second with him in the last 12 months.
A
lot of things are happening in the world, particularly in Europe,
with Ukraine, but also in our region, the Eastern Mediterranean,
where Cyprus is at the forefront of a very volatile region. And
something that's very pertinent for the need of a resolution of the
problem of Cyprus and we thank Secretary Kerry himself and the United
States administration for their assistance, for their interest.
We
need the assistance and interest of the international community
because I think the circumstances are appropriate to push in order to
find a settlement in this context, if I can call it this way.
US
Secretary of State:
And we agree with that. Absolutely. And we will look at it. Thank
you.
_________________
13
May 2014
