Cyprus looking forward to PM's visit

By K.K. Katyal

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. The Prime Minister, Mr.A.B. Vajpayee, will pay a two-day official visit to Cyprus - on September 20 and 21 - while on his way to New York for the U.N. General Assembly session. Cyprus, representing one of the most complex and intractable regional conflicts, attaches considerable symbolic significance to the visit.

In the past, the Indian Governments, led by the Congress and the United Front, had backed the Republic of Cyprus in its efforts for an early settlement of the problem, arising from the division of the island. New Delhi's policy, it was known, enjoyed bipartisan approval but this will be the first manifestation of support by the BJP-led coalition. The fact that the present Government had taken steps to strengthen India's ties with Turkey - which backs the claims of the Turkish Cypriot community for a separate state as against the Nicosia regime's insistence on a single sovereignty with bizonal federation - makes the Prime Minister's plan for the Cyprus trip particularly important.

The Cyprus issue had been with the U.N. for several decades, but it had not been possible for the world body to work out an agreement within the framework decided upon by the Security Council, so much so that this problem had come to be known as the graveyard of the reputation of Secretary-Generals. The proximity talks, under the U.N. auspices, remain stalemated despite five rounds. The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, is due to meet the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Raouf Denktash, in Austria on August 28, in an attempt to revive the negotiations. As such, Mr. Vajpayee may be one of first world leaders to be briefed on the prospects of the sixth round (even though it may be premature to talk of a breakthrough).

Cyprus regards the timing of the Prime Minister's visit significant on another count too - coming as it does on the eve of the Commonwealth summit, due to be held in Australia from October 6 to 9. Nicosia plans to use the occasion to enlist the support of the Commonwealth for an early end of the stalemate. The issue will be on the political agenda of the summit and the Cyprus Government would want a strongly-worded formulation in the declaration.

Mr. Vajpayee's will be the first high-level visit to Cyprus in 13 years - after the 1988 trip of the then President, Mr. R. Venkataraman, the 1983 visit of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and in 1972 of Mr. V.V. Giri, President of the day. The series of Presidential visits from Cyprus began with Archbishop Makarios in October 1962, followed by Mr. Sypros Kyprianou in October 1980, Mr. George Vasiliou in April 1989 and Mr. Glafcos Clerides in February 1997. Mr. Clarides, now in his second term, has a strong India connection - his wife, Lila Irene, hails from India (she was born in Ahmedabad).

Cyprus, now an accession country of the European Union, is due to become a full member in 2003. This could give an additional dimension to mutual ties, in so far as Cyprus could become a bridge between India and the grouping with regard to trade and other economic matters.

As of now, trade between the two countries is limited, mainly because their economies are competitive, not supplementary. However, there is a potential for enhancing economic relations, through the establishment of joint ventures, use of Cyprus as a marketing and transit station for Indian products and their distribution in European and neighbouring countries and as a centre for offshore companies engaged in business in West Asia and Europe.

Two agreements are proposed to be signed during the Prime Minister's visit - one on protection and promotion of investment and another on health matters (on exchange of information on preventive and promotive programmes relating to AIDS and exchange of experiences in controlling communicable diseases).

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