US reiterates backing for solution to Cyprus impasse
US Vice President Joe Biden (photo) reiterated Washington’s support for a solution to the reunification of Cyprus as “as bizonal, bicommunal federation” in a telephone conversation with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades early on Saturday.
A new United Nations-buffered peace push is expected to be the focus of talks when Anastasiades visits Athens in the last week of July and during an anticipated trip to New York in September by the Cyprus president.
During his visit to Cyprus in May, the first by a US vice president in more than 50 years, Biden stressed that a settlement to the island’s long-standing division would lead to greater prosperity and security.
International interest in breaking the deadlock on Cyprus has increased since the discovery of significant undersea gas reserves off the island’s coast and in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine and its possible repercussions on Russian gas supplies.
