Annan invites Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to New York for talks

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today wrote to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders inviting them to New York next week to resume negotiations on the basis of his settlement plan.

"The objective of the negotiations would be to put a completed text to referenda in April 2004, in time for a reunited Cyprus to accede to the European Union on 1 May," a spokesman for Mr. Annan said in a statement released Wednesday evening.

The Secretary-General has also written to the Prime Ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom asking them to have representatives on hand in New York on that occasion, according to the statement.

Mr. Annan “was moved to take this initiative by his recent, encouraging contacts on the Cyprus question during his trip to Europe and afterwards,” the statement said.

In his letters, the Secretary-General “appealed to the leaders to summon the political will needed to bring about this result in the short time available,” the statement said. “He has also set out what needs to be done for this to happen.”