Tuesday, 5 December 2023
North Cyprus could begin selling its own hellim/halloumi across the Green Line to the south in 2024, Yeniduzen reports.
According to the Greek Cypriot press, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission and Head of the Cyprus Solution Support Unit, Kjartan Björnsson, met with Greek and Turkish Cypriot journalists in Brussels, where he made statements on the Green Line regulation, halloumi, and bi-communal initiatives.
Greek Cypriot daily ‘Alithia’ and other newspapers reported that during the press meeting in Brussels Björnsson stated that the aim was to start exporting Cypriot Turkish hellim through South Cyprus in 2024.
In the reports, Björnsson stated that the Commission’s goal is to begin exporting hellim produced by Turkish Cypriots in accordance with the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) patent through South Cyprus under the Green Line regulation by June 2024.
Highlighting his hope that the Turkish Cypriot community’s successful adoption of EU health criteria would contribute to the resolution of the Cyprus problem, Björnsson argued that the increase in mutual border crossings and trade, along with the sale of halloumi, would send a particularly hopeful message.
Alithia also reported that Björnsson’s speech extensively covered the Commission’s contributions to support programmes for Turkish Cypriots and confidence-building measures, as well as mentioning mutual crossings and trade figures.
According to Björnsson, in 2022, mutual crossings amounted to 5.8 million, and trade under the Green Line Regulation reached a record increase of 14.6 million euros in the same year.
