A group of four business organisations from Cyprus, Greece and Turkey – OEB, ISAD, SEV and TUCIAD – have adopted a Joint Declaration on the Cyprus issue, which they presented at a press conference in Nicosia, on Thursday.
According to Filios Zachariades, who read out the declaration in Greek, the four organisations call on the two communities in Cyprus to begin negotiations in good faith to achieve a comprehensive and enduring settlement of the Cyprus problem.
“Based on the understanding of the interconnectedness of political and economic issues, along with the elevated level of international interest to end within our region, the four organisations strongly stress that the negotiations between the communities in Cyprus pose a sound opportunity to reach a mutually accepted solution to the long outstanding Cyprus problem”, the declaration says.
It also adds that the four groups emphasise that a solution to the Cyprus problem would create high-level economic cooperation among all parties involved.
“Furthermore, we believe that triggering economic and social progress in Cyprus and the economic welfare of the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole, will undoubtedly hinge upon the economic integration of the island”.
TUSIAD President Muhharrem Yilmaz told the press that the four organisations representing the business world of Turkey, Greece and both Cypriot communities had come together to express their joint wishes for an acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem.
“The Cyprus problem is one of the oldest problems still remaining without a solution in the international arena, with a history of more than half of a century”, he said, adding that the many initiatives for a solution had failed, and this collective failure had unfortunately deprived Turkish people, Greek people, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots of all the benefits they would have made in terms of a solution.
“As TUSIAD we have been saying that a solution to the problem would bring economic prosperity and will help eliminating all the diplomatic problems,” he said.
