AKEL C.C. Press Office, 17 April 2019, Nicosia

The fact that the UN SecretaryGeneral in his Report on his Good Offices to the Security Council expresses his intention to continue the effortsfor a resumption ofthe talks is positive. For that reason, his references are on the one hand cautious, but at the same time contain indirect criticisms and send out warning signals to all sides.

The UN Secretary General Mr. Guterres reiterates that the period of endless talks definitely belongs to the past and that the status quo does not represent a viable option. He is essentially warning that the status quo will not remain unchanged if we do not focus with the sense of urgency for a conclusion on the terms of reference and the subsequent resumption of the talks.

The Secretary General notes that both sides instead of concentrating on explaining the advantages of the solution and the negative consequences of a non-solution, are resorting to negative and polarizing rhetoric. He underlines that despite the verbal acceptance of the convergences and his Framework, no progress has been recorded in practice for a resumption of the talks. He once again stresses that the solution lies in the hands of the sides. He welcomes the belated progress made with regardsConfidence Building measures, most of them having been adopted since 2015, but at the same time he correctly records that only the achievement of an agreement on terms of reference will create genuine prospects for a solution.

Regarding the issue of natural gas, Mr. Guterres reiterates that both communities must benefit from its finding and that it can be a serious incentive for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

The UN Secretary General stresses that for decades the UN Security Council has supported a solution of a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality. He recalls that, to fulfill this objective, he tabled the Framework of 30th June 2017 on the remaining key issues (the reference to the date is not at all accidental), calling on the sides to examine constructively these six points.

Despite the fact thatMr. Guterres has low expectations of reaching an agreement on the terms of reference, he points out that there is still hopeprovided however, that the parties will engage in the procedure by looking to a specific goal and have thedetermination to reach a successful conclusion with a visible horizon.

That is exactly what we also expect, demanding from all sides to utilise without delay the limited time that we have before us to reach an agreement on the terms of reference and for a resumption of the talks from where they had remainedat Crans Montana on the basis of the Framework of the UN Secretary General.