The Permanent Representative of the Republic to the United Nations, Ambassador Kornelios Korneliou, speaking, on 29 August, within the framework of the Security Council’s open debate, under the presidency of the Egyptian Permanent Representative, Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Abulatta, on “United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Their potential contribution of the overarching goal of sustaining peace”, praised the work of the UN, noting that for over 70 years it continues to contribute significantly to the consolidation of peace and conflict prevention.
Mr Korneliou congratulated Egypt for taking the initiative to organize the debate and pointed out that the reevaluations of the 2015 peacekeeping operations had been triggered by the urgent need to reinforce the cohesion of the UN system in order to deal effectively with new threats and challenges.
Referring to UNFICYP, he underlined that it constitutes an example of an effective peacekeeping operation and its continuation is necessary for as long as the Cyprus problem remains unresolved. He also said that the situation in Cyprus and the prospects for achieving peace would have been much worse without the continuing presence of UNFICYP on the island throughout all these years.
“We remain committed to the objective of reunifying the island, since any other alternative would not serve the interests of the Cyprus people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. We stand ready to make every possible effort to overcome the impasse and to prepare the road for a comprehensive settlement, which would finally succeed in reunifying Cyprus as a viable, functional state, according to the UN Security Council resolutions, international law and the EU acquis communautaire”, the Permanent Representative noted.
Ambassador Korneliou also conveyed gratitude to the UN Secretary-General for his incessant work and personal involvement in the efforts to reach a settlement to the Cyprus problem, as well as to the Security Council for the strong message of unity and support.
Lastly, he added that Cyprus reaffirms its commitment to collaborate with all member states toward the direction of a reinforced peace structure, which would ensure enhanced effectiveness through the excellent use of available tools and resources of the United Nations.
