Cypriot President Anastasiades in Athens for talks amid reports of request for loan from Greece
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has arrived in Athens for his first official visit abroad since being elected.
Anastasiades is due to hold talks with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at 12.30 p.m. with the economic crisis and the Cyprus issue topping the agenda.
The two men are due to give a joint news conference.
Anastasiades is also due to meet the leaders of PASOK, Democratic Left, SYRIZA and the Communist Party as well as President Karolos Papoulias.
He will be accompanied by Finance Minister Michalis Sarris.
Anastasiades’s visit comes amid reports that Cyprus will ask Greece to provide 2 billion euros from its 48-billion-euros bank recapitalization program to support Cypriot lenders.
Ahead of his departure, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus, suggested that the island would return to the Cypriot pound if it cannot reach agreement with the troika.
“If they want to destroy us [through harsh demands], then we say goodbye to the euro … We can survive with the Cyprus pound,” he said.
