British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that his country supports fully and unequivocally the rights of Cyprus to its EEZ.

He further noted that Britain welcomes the talks that have taken place recently under the auspices of the UN Secretary General and looks forward to further progress in those talks.

The remarks were made after Hague met in London Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis who agreed that bilateral relations with Britain need to be strengthened.

“I am very satisfied with our talks and I believe we can start a new effort in our relations, which are, of course on a high level, but there is room to improve them”, she added.

Hague told Marcoullis it “is very important to reinforce our bilateral relations” which are strong and important for many reasons. Being in the EU and the Commonwealth together but also because of our common interests in so many regional affairs”.

He remarked that “we have got a very good basis for those bilateral relations-the Memorandum which President Christofias and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed three years ago. We want to build on that”.

The British Foreign Secretary said the two had a good discussion about many issues, in particular about the forthcoming Presidency of the EU for Cyprus in the second half of 2012.

“We wish to support that and help in any way that we can at a very difficult time in European affairs”, he added.

Hague said he and Marcoullis have discussed the situation around the Middle East particularly in Syria, Egypt and Libya.

On the Cyprus issue, Hague said “in the UK as in all the countries in Europe we want to see a settlement in Cyprus. The lines along which we want to see that are very well established. We welcome the talks that have taken place recently under the auspices of the UN Secretary General. We look forward to further progress in those talks”.

In her remarks, Marcoullis said they had a very thorough discussion on a number of issues of mutual concern, primarily the Cyprus question and the developments regarding the negotiations and the meetings in New York.

At the same time, she added, “we have important project of exploratory drilling in the EEZ of Cyprus and the UK reiterated its support for the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus in its EEZ both orally and in many other ways and we are very grateful for this support on the part of the UK”.

The Cypriot FM said they also discussed bilateral relations noting both countries have “a very good level of relationship but we have agreed that there is a lot of room for working harder in the direction of strengthening these relations and I think through both the Ministries, but also the High Commissioners here in London and in Nicosia will be working very hard under our guidance to do exactly that”.

Asked what Britain can do, as a guarantor power, towards a solution to the Cyprus problem, Hague said “Britain welcomes any progress made and we understand that some progress has been made. We will continue to encourage all parties to make such progress”.

He underlined that “we cannot lay down such things ourselves, this is for all the parties concerned to take forward. It cannot be decided here in London or by the UK. Those days are gone. We support a settlement through a process of negotiation; we will always continue to advocate that. But I think that that is our best contribution to it rather than to try to intervene directly in it in any way».

To a question about Turkish threats against Cyprus for starting exploratory drilling in its Exclusive Economic Zone, Hague said that “as the Minister has said we support fully and unequivocally the rights of Cyprus to its EEZ. That has been reaffirmed in the Commonwealth, it has been reaffirmed in the EU on many occasions in the past. So, we support that without any qualification and we want that to be well-known and understood in all countries”.

He underlined that Britain supports “the right to develop such a zone and to enjoy the resources of it. We welcome the statement by President Christofias that measures will be taken to make sure that the proceeds of it can be shared by all Cypriots in the future. We think that this is the right way to approach the matter. And, of course, we will urge on any countries concerned, a moderate and sensible course of action».

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