The President of the Republic received
the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State
The President of the Republic, Mr Nicos
Anastasiades, received today the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Eric
Rubin, at the Presidential Palace.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Mr Rubin
stated: “I had a very good meeting with President Anastasiades and his team. We
discussed the progress that's been made and the optimism for future progress in
the settlement talks.
We discussed the United States' support for the UN
good offices mission, our support for the leaders of both communities and the
commitments they've made. We discussed ideas for confidence building measures
and ways that the international community, countries like the USA, can
contribute to supporting people to people efforts and confidence building
measures that will start to make real progress in breaking down the barriers
that have divided the two communities for so long.
It was a very helpful discussion, a very positive
discussion and the United States is committed to doing everything it can to help
this process move forward as quickly as possible.”
Asked how the US could contribute to confidence
building measures, Mr Rubin said: “I think it is well-known what the priorities
are in both sides and I think the goal is to find ways to help address the needs
and the hopes of both sides for confidence building measures that can begin to
show real possibilities for progress.
Our role is obviously not as a participant but as a
supporter, our role is as a contributor. We hope to create some of the
mechanisms to help, support some of the programs. We certainly hope not to be
alone on that, we hope the EU and others will be doing the same, but we are very
strongly committed to doing everything we can to help make that happen.”
Invited to elaborate on the “mechanisms” to which he had made
reference earlier, Mr Rubin said: “I can't be specific. This is something that
we are discussing right now with the two communities.”
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