The President of the Republic Mr Demetris Christofias, the United Nations Secretary- General Mr Ban Ki-moon and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Mehmet Ali Talat gave today a joint press conference at Nicosia airport.

In his opening statement Mr Ban made the following remarks: "I am pleased to be joined by His Excellency Mr Christofias and His Excellency Mr Talat.

I want to pay tribute to them both for their strong commitment and resolve.

As you know, I have come to Cyprus to show my personal support to the Cypriot-led and–owned process to reunify the island. And I wanted to be here now because I recognize how important it is to continue to build momentum on what the leaders have achieved up to now.

This has been a productive and constructive day. I have said that the world is watching. Today the world is seeing two leaders who are rising to the challenge.

Cyprus needs commitment, vision and flexibility. That is what I have sensed here today – two leaders striving to forge a better future for the people.

I am encouraged that the two leaders personally assured me of their shared commitment to a comprehensive solution as early as possible.

We will need even more courage and determination in the period ahead to bring these talks to a successful conclusion.
No one is under the illusion that any of this is easy. Peace negotiations never are. But the time is ripe to push ahead. I am convinced that these two leaders can achieve a mutually beneficial solution.

For decades, the world has heard about the Cyprus problem. Now is the time for the Cyprus solution.

The United Nations will continue to provide all the support we can.

But this is a process that is by the people of Cyprus, and for the people of Cyprus.

I carry the world’s support for Cyprus in my heart. But the future of Cyprus is in your hands.

After intensive negotiations, the two leaders have asked me to read the following statement on their behalf and it is a great honor for me."

The UN Secretary-General read out the joint statement by the leaders as follows:

"We, as the two leaders, express our gratitude for the visit of the United Nations Secretary-General to Cyprus, which demonstrates the continued interest of the United Nations and the international community for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem under the Secretary-General’s Good Offices Mission.

Taking this opportunity, we express our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his Good Offices Mission as approved by the Security Council and for the efforts aimed at finding a mutually agreed solution.

Working groups comprising Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have devoted time and effort to thoroughly discuss all aspects of the Cyprus problem.

We ourselves, together with our advisors and our teams, have been working diligently for more than a year on all Chapters of the Cyprus problem. We have worked on the basis of the integrated whole approach that is "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed". Good convergence has already been achieved in some Chapters. For the rest, we are determined to work hard to achieve the desired progress.

Over the last three weeks we have worked hard during our intensified negotiations, mainly on the Chapter of Governance and Power Sharing and achieved important progress.

We express our strong commitment to continue to work on this and the rest of the Chapters. We express our confidence that with good will and determination, we can achieve a solution in the shortest possible time. It is our common conviction that the Cyprus problem has remained unresolved for too long. We are also aware that time is not on the side of settlement. There is an important opportunity now to find a solution to the Cyprus problem which would take into full consideration the legitimate rights and concerns of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. We are aware that such a settlement is in the interest of all and that it will finally bring peace, stability and prosperity to our common home Cyprus."

Later on the two leaders replied to questions as follows:

Question: Mr President, in your meetings today have you asked the Secretary-General to convey a message to the Turkish Cypriot side for the need of the full implementation of the UN resolutions to reach a solution?

President Christofias: This has been a commitment on my part always, and it is a commitment for both sides that the basis of the negotiations and the solution be based on the UN Security Council resolutions, on the High Level Agreements and we are committed on these, both of us. It is strange that you ask if I conveyed to the Secretary-General this position. It is a well known position and any time I meet with the Secretary-General – we met maybe five times until now- I underline this need. On the other hand, we need the understanding of both sides. We are going to agree on a solution taking into account the legitimate interests of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots for the interest of our common homeland, Cyprus.

Question: Are you satisfied so far? You are running for elections. Can you say that the negotiations are going well?

Mr Talat: Yes, of course, I am satisfied in that respect although as you know time is not on the side of a solution, I always underline this. We need a quick solution. We have been negotiating for one and a half years and we achieved progress on some issues and of course it is a matter of fact that we have differences also. But in general, I can say from the point that we have started we are now closer, so this is a good achievement and in general I am satisfied with the convergence. Of course the election is an important endeavour and the election period will draw our attention to the elections but in the meantime the negotiations are not less important than the elections. In my opinion negotiations should continue and I hope we will continue to negotiate in order to have more and more convergences every day.

Question: How feasible do you think it is to move forward to more thorny issues such as security guarantors and settlers after the convergence and the important progress which according to the Secretary- General has been achieved?

President Christofias: It is not according to the Secretary- General, it is according to the two leaders. The Secretary-General was so polite to read our joint statement. I welcome the Secretary-General on behalf of the people of our island to the island and I am sure that his presence here will help us to renew our commitment and our will, both, for a solution to the Cyprus problem, for convergences in all aspects of the problem, including the aspects you mentioned. We have to exchange opinions and to negotiate on these matters as well. But there are foreign powers involved in security, for example. When I say foreign powers I mean Greece, Turkey and Britain, so they have to take decisions as well. I am not going to go into details now because we are going to negotiate very seriously on all matters. Let me say a few words about the wish and the desire of Mehmet Ali to continue negotiating. I am ready to continue with him, negotiating despite the "elections", hoping that nothing will become obstacle in our way to search very seriously for a speedy solution to the Cyprus problem. It is our common desire and common decision and soon we will be able to announce our next meeting.

Question: Mr Talat, we heard that the Secretary-General was coming to Cyprus to help the two leaders to push the process forward. Did you ask for any help and if so what was it?

Mr Talat: Of course we asked. We asked the Secretary-General and the UN to help us more, if possible, first of all by encouraging both sides and pointing out the importance of the speed of a solution because of many other factors, internal and external of course, and furthermore to continue to keep the auspices of the negotiations. As is well known we are negotiating under the auspices of the UN and the good offices mission of the Secretary-General. The UN have a strong lead for these negotiations and this should be used in various ways. As the Secretary-General pointed out, this is an issue between the two sides, between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots. We are negotiating with my friend Demetris Christofias so these negotiations should continue and prove to be fruitful. This is important. And we will continue to ask from the Secretary-General to encourage both sides to go in this direction. As the Turkish Cypriot side, our request is more than this, I don’t want to be controversial now, you know my ideas, my positions, but since we are negotiating in a friendly atmosphere I don’t want to create any problem to anybody. My aim is to enjoy the fruit of our efforts. I want a comprehensive solution to be reached and for that I am ready to further my responsibility until the end. I am thankful to the Secretary-General for his visit and I, as my friend Christofias, want to welcome him on behalf of all people on our island, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, and we will continue to welcome the help of the United Nations.