Trio of British ambassadors meets with Papadopoulos

BRITISH Ambassadors from Cyprus, Athens and Ankara yesterday met with President Tassos Papadopoulos to discuss the Cyprus problem and the upcoming elections in the north.

Speaking after the meeting, which was held behind closed doors, the Director of the Foreign Office’s Mediterranean Europe Department, Dominic Chilcott, said the British government remained committed to working for an early resumption of negotiations on the basis of UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s proposal.

Chilcott said the three ambassadors were on the island as part of an annual in-house conference on East Mediterranean issues.

“It’s very appropriate that this year we are meeting in Cyprus, given the very critical period ahead, with the forthcoming elections in the north and the fast-approaching accession of Cyprus to the EU on May 1 next year,” he said.

“We are glad to have had the opportunity to discuss the issues at first hand with President Papadopoulos. We had a wide-ranging, constructive and useful discussion.”

Chilcott said the British government was taking a close interest in developments in the north, especially the December elections.

“It is important that those elections be free and fair,” he said.

“With our European partners, we very much hope that the Cyprus which joins the EU on May 1 next year will be a reunited Cyprus.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.