President Anastasiades attended on Monday evening a reception hosted by the Embassy of China in Nicosia to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cyprus.

In his address President Anastasiades said that Cyprus considers China as an important and true friend, and that together the two countries are committed to facilitating cooperation in the political, social and economic and trade fields. “Our strong bilateral ties are based on the common values that Cyprus and China share, on the mutual understanding we have developed on various regional and international issues, as well as on the close cooperation we have established in an array of areas”, he noted, adding that his visit to China in October 2015 and the visit to Cyprus in December of the same year by the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Yi, provided a new momentum to exploring new fields of cooperation, in particular economic cooperation.

“Cyprus has its doors open to Chinese companies eager to invest and develop their operations and offers very attractive benefits and opportunities for Chinese companies to establish their activities and production units in Cyprus” President Anastasiades stressed, adding that Cyprus can also be an active player in promoting the values of the Silk Road Initiative. “As a member of the European Union and an international maritime power, Cyprus stands ready to cooperate closely with our Chinese, Asian and European partners in effectively supporting this initiative and especially in successfully promoting the aims and values of the Silk Maritime Road as a key transit island of the Silk Road Maritime Trade Routes,” he said.

President Anastasiades also thanked the Chinese Government for its long-standing support in the efforts to achieve a comprehensive and viable settlement to the Cyprus problem, based on the UN Security Council resolutions and the EU values and principles.

He recalled that on December 1st “in order to preserve the momentum of the negotiation process and in order to establish that negotiations would continue from the point they were left off, in Mont Pèlerin, it was agreed that an intensive and substantive discussion on all pending issues will take place and the Turkish Cypriot side has committed itself to submit a map on the issue of Territory on 11th of January in Geneva.”

He added that “progress on the above issues will allow the two sides to come within reach of an agreement by creating the conditions and prospects for a successful conclusion during the discussion of the fundamental issue of security and guarantees in a multilateral Conference, on 12th of January, in Geneva, to be convened with the added participation of the guarantor powers, as well as other relevant parties as needed.”

“To this end, we do believe that –considering the international dimension of the issue to be discussed, including the ways and means of ensuring the smooth, safe and speedy implementation of the settlement to be reached-, the Permanent Members of the Security Council should be present at the Conference,” he noted, adding that in this respect that Cyprus counts on People’s Republic of China presence and support at the Conference.

On his part, the Ambassador of China in Nicosia Xingyuan Huang said that “both Cypriot and Chinese people, “with the shared experiences of national division caused by wars, cherish peace and desire the early reunification of their countries”.

He noted that over the past 45 years the two countries have maintained frequent high-level exchanges, deepened their mutual political trust, strengthened their cooperation and increased cultural and people-to-people exchanges, adding that both sides accommodate each other`s concerns and support each other in international affairs.

Xingyuan Huang said that the friendly cooperation between Cyprus and China serves as a model between countries of different social systems, sizes and cultural backgrounds in the international community.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Akinci have been engaged in UN-led talks since May 2015, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.