New High Commissioner to take office on May 11

THE NEW British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Edward Clay, is expected to take up his duties next month.

According to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), Clay will take over of May 11. He will succeed David Madden, who has already left the island.

Deputy High Commissioner John Buck met President Clerides yesterday to discuss details of Thursday’s visit by British Minister of State at the Home Office, Joyce Quin.

Quin’s visit is believed to be part of British efforts to help move forward the stalled Cyprus negotiations as part of the promised “big push” from the British and the Americans.

British High Commission spokesman Piers Cazalet told CNA Quin would be doing a lot of listening during her trip.

“Obviously she is being well briefed in London, but she wants to see the key players again,” he said. “She’s met Clerides before, she was here a couple of years ago, but she wants the opportunity to meet the key players to take the temperature and to look at what Britain can do to help move the process forward.”

Quin will arrive in Cyprus on Thursday afternoon and will have a working breakfast with President Clerides on Friday.

She will also meet Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

Quin will be accompanied by British envoy for Cyprus, Sir David Hannay.

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.