"We have been positive about the process, of having two intensive rounds of talks", UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser to Cyprus Mr Alexander Downer said today, after being received by the President of the Republic Mr Demetris Christofias, at the Presidential Palace.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Mr Downer said that he regularly meets with President Christofias as he does with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Mehmet Ali Talat, adding that "it is an opportunity for us to review where we are at in the talks and obviously making preparations for next week's intensive talks which will take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday."

He added that "we had a significant focus on that issue, and I had an opportunity to hear from Mr Christofias about his visit to Greece and other issues."

Asked about next week’s talks Mr Downer said: "We have to wait and see. I think it is important not to get into the details of this. We have been positive about the process, of having two intensive rounds of talks and it is an opportunity for the leaders to spend three full days together again, as they did last week, to really concentrate their minds on the governance and power sharing chapter, the economy, the EU, all of these issues, and to see what they can agree on and see if they can continue to take the process forward.”

Replying to a question whether he was concerned that this might not happen, he said that he would not want to make a prediction, adding that he is "cautiously optimistic that in the end the leaders will be able to negotiate an agreement. But it is, inevitably, a time-consuming work."

Asked about a third round of intensive talks he said that "we are not in the process of doing that, we are really focused on the second round which is coming up next week."
Invited to say whether the UN Secretary General will be visiting Cyprus, Mr Downer said that “we got nothing new on that. There have been consultations in New York from time to time about this issue but there is no finality on that.”

Asked about the Turkish proposals put forward at the talks, he said:
"I am not getting into an analysis of the different proposals put forward by the different sides. Both sides have their own interpretations about these things and make their public statements about them." He added that "it is really not for the UN to give a running commentary on these different proposals. It is ultimately up to Mr Christofias, what he thinks about the Turkish proposals, and for him to discuss the broader issues with Mr Talat. It depends how they want to handle it. What we do is to encourage them to work in a constructive spirit and in a positive spirit and try to find their way through their disagreements towards greater convergence and there is not much more we can do than that."

Invited to comment on the British Court’s ruling in the Orams case, he said that the ruling "underlines the importance of the negotiations. The British Court of Appeal is an irrefutably credible Court, an important court and this is a complex case, but the court has made its decision and it is a final decision, and it should remind people of the importance of working as hard as possible to ensure that these negotiations are successfully concluded."