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Our goal is to further increase the volume of humanitarian aid in Gaza, President of the Republic Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, who said that next Sunday he will be in Egypt, where he will participate in a meeting with the President of Egypt, the President of the European Commission and heads of state of the European Union (EU).
In his statements to journalists, while attending an event for Women - Symbols of Cyprus, at the Strovolos Municipal Theatre, in response to a journalist's remark that the ship carrying humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza has reached its destination and asked what to expect next from the "Amalthea" initiative, the President of the Republic said: "The second ship is being prepared."
We want to increase the volume of humanitarian aid transport, so we are talking to several states. Today I spoke with the Dutch Prime Minister who has supported [US] from the very first moment. I asked for some technical assistance in relation to the transport so that we can 'run' even faster. He responded positively. In fact, a team will be sent from the Netherlands, and a responsible minister will be in Cyprus on Tuesday. We will have visits to Cyprus from heads of state who supported the initiative, they have already expressed their interest.
On Sunday I will be in Egypt together with the President of the Commission, the Greek Prime Minister and two other EU heads of state, from the EU Presidency of course, Belgium.
We are moving forward. Our goal is to further increase the volume of humanitarian aid. We are on a very good track, there is support after that started from clearly many more states because they see that what we said is being implemented and we are continuing."
Asked, the President said: "The creation of the pier will certainly allow even more aid to be transferred because there will be no restriction on the ships that can be used. Right now they are specific ships, for example the Netherlands, the Dutch navy has such ships. It was something I discussed with Mr Rutte today. The creation of the pier will allow us to bring in considerably more ships. In fact, the next steps were also discussed recently in the teleconference of foreign ministers, to see how a fund can be set up so that we can send even more.
One goal is: more aid, using this humanitarian corridor that we have proposed and we all see that it is being implemented."
In response to a journalist's remark that AKEL says the Abbacum Monastery scandal exposes the government, the President said: "In no way whatsoever does it expose the government.
I want to assure AKEL - we are also in an election campaign, I am sure that we will hear such statements every day - and not only AKEL, but the entire Cypriot people, and I want to be unequivocal: on the part of the State, everything will be done so that, if there is a case, it will be brought to justice and if it is brought to justice, I hope, without interfering with the judiciary, that things will be done quickly there as well. The instructions are clear, I am in contact with the Minister of Justice, there is an ongoing investigation into various allegations that exist in relation to police responsibilities, everything will proceed.
It is a public promise to the Cypriot people: nothing but nothing will be left uninvestigated."
Asked if during his meeting tomorrow with the personal envoy of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General (SG) for the Cyprus problem, Ms María Ángela Holguín, he will seek to learn about the methodology that will be followed, and asked if there are reports that the UN will wait for the municipal elections in Turkey to be completed before initiating any possible process, the President said: "No, the second question was not discussed in relation to how long the UN will wait. I will meet tomorrow with Mrs Holguín, who leaves on Sunday. So it is probably the last meeting in this round of the visit. She will come back to Cyprus in April, after visiting a number of European capitals of EU member states and Brussels.
All this time I have been in telephone contact with Mrs Holguín, tomorrow we will have the opportunity to inform me about the results of her contacts, to exchange views.
With regard to the methodology, I wanted to say that in the Cyprus problem the methodology is part of the substance and we cannot separate the methodology from the substance. It was something that we discussed with Ms Holguín from our first meeting, this is our position and I think everyone understands that you cannot separate the methodology from the substance when we are talking about the Cyprus problem.
I want to say that if there is political will - from our side it is a given and I am glad that it was recognised by the international community and we had the appointment of Ms Holguín - we can indeed reach the objective of resuming the talks. We shall see, we shall be informed tomorrow. It is an effort where fine-tuning is needed with a single objective, the resumption of the talks."
(PM/EP/MS)
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