The British High Commissioner in Nicosia Matthew Kidd has called on the two sides in Cyprus not to walk away from the efforts to reach an agreement on a joint declaration.

Speaking to the press following his meeting with the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou , held here today,  Kidd said that Kyprianou briefed him on his  views in response to the various challenges that Cyprus is dealing with.

Asked about the efforts underway to reach an agreement on a joint declaration, he expressed hope for a joint declaration agreement to be finalized.

He noted that it has taken longer to agree on this issue and expressed hope that the two sides are close to an agreement.

In response to a question, he said that it is important for the two sides to keep calm and not to walk away from the effort in order to avoid a deadlock.

He said that there are tricky issues and real problems that the two sides have to deal with.

He also stressed that if an agreement is achieved, that will be really helpful in terms of the process going forward.

Asked whether this is possible given the significant differences between the two sides on the issue of sovereignty, he replied affirmatively.

He said, finally, that the two sides are working hard to reach an agreement on this issue.

The position of President Anastasiades is that before talks can begin, a Joint Declaration should be issued to record the basic parameters of the solution on the basis of previous High Level Agreements of 1977 and 1997 and UN resolutions, which provide for a bizonal bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, one citizenship and one international personality.

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu refuses to see the validity of such a joint declaration statement.

The Joint Declaration, the President points out, must not overlook Cyprus’ status as a full EU member with respect to the acquis communautaire and EU values and principles, which should in turn secure the rights of all citizens of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

The last few weeks the UN have been meeting with the negotiators of the two communities in an effort to resume the talks with no result.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and since then occupy 37% of this Mediterranean island`s territory.   Cyprus is a full EU member state since 2004. It assumed its first EU Presidency in 2012.