Cypriots need to conclude negotiations with the Troika, UN SG Special Advisor on the Cyprus issue Alexander Downer said on Tuesday, adding that this leaves the UN with plenty of time to prepare to get the negotiating process for the Cyprus issue going again.

In statements he made to the press after a meeting he had with President Anastasiades today, Downer said that he will be speaking with the Turkish Cypriots, the UN SG, Security Council members and the Greek and Turkish governments and will return to Cyprus in April.

“It’s been a great opportunity to catch up with him first of all with the United Nations congratulating President Anastasiades on his election” Downer pointed out, adding that “it was a decisive victory for him, he has huge challenges on the economic front to deal with”.

He clarified that “that’s not our business but suffice it to say we are very sympathetic with the challenges he and the people of Cyprus more broadly have to face of an economic nature”.

“As far as the Cyprus issue is concerned we had a good initial discussion about this and I will be meeting with Mr. Eroglu this afternoon. Next week I ‘ll be in New York I’ll be seeing the Secretary General, some of the Security Council members and other people within the United Nations system”, he said, adding that “I think we have an increasingly clear picture about how President Anastasiades wants to take this process forward”.

Understandably, Downer said, “we feel very sympathetic about this; he has huge economic challenges to face in the short term, he has to deal with those issues”. But, he noted, “as you know he is very committed to a solution of the Cyprus problem and we will do what we can to help him with those issues”.

Replying to a question as to whether he gave President Anastasiades a paper with convergences achieved so far, Downer replied negatively, adding that “we just had an initial meeting”.

Obviously, he added, “we will make sure that we are able to provide the President with any information that he wants”. There is no problems there, Downer pointed out, expressing the UN’s readiness “to give him whatever information he wants, there’s no mystery in that, we are no guardians of great secrets as far as the negotiations are concerned and if he is interested in what convergences have been achieved in the past, we will be happy to facilitate him”.

Asked when he will be next returning to Cyprus, Downer said “I am here now and I will be coming back next month”.  At the moment, he added, “I think, understandably, the new President needs to concentrate on the economy and they have to, I mean it’s not realistic to expect that they should be doing anything else right this week”.

“I will be coming back in April and we will look at the situation then and further discussions and in the meantime I will have had talks with the Turkish Cypriots, with Mr. Eroglu in particular, but also in New York”, the UN SG’s special advisor said.

He added that “I will be talking with the Greek government and the Turkish government as well, so there will be a body of work to do”. By the time, he said, “I get back here in April I will have done a fair deal of preparations and we will see where we are at in April”.

Replying to a question as to how the UN intends to move the process forward Downer said “we need to take the process forward but we need to do it in a timely and appropriate way”.

It’s my judgment, he noted, “and I think this judgment is right that Cypriots need for the moment to conclude the negotiations – particularly the President – with the Troika”.  Those economic issues, he said, “are bigger economic issues than most countries face, those economic issues need to be dealt with”.

That, he reiterated, “leaves us with plenty of time to do a good deal of preparation for trying to get the process going again”.

In conclusion he pointed out that “we need time to make preparations ourselves and so we are not putting any particular timetable out”.

Excluded from international capital markets, Cyprus has requested financial assistance from the EU bailout mechanism after its two largest banks sought state aid following massive losses of their Greek bond holdings estimated at €4.5 billion, as a result of the Greek sovereign debt haircut. The Troika and the Cypriot authorities have agreed on a preliminary memorandum of understating which includes the conditions for the granting of the financial assistance programme estimated at €17 billion.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The latest round of direct talks began in 2008 with the aim to reunite the island under a federal roof.

The negotiations, which produced little progress, came to a halt last June when the Turkish Cypriot side withdrew from the negotiating table, before Cyprus resumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU July 1 2012