TRNC News Today 19^th January 2016

Akıncı in Davos

President Mustafa Akıncı left the island this morning to attend the “World Economic Forum” to be held in Davos, Switzerland between 20-23 January. Akıncı will meet with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades in Davos at the trilateral summit. Akıncı will also meet with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and the US Vice President Joe Biden.

Furthermore, President Akıncı will attend a panel on the Cyprus issue as a speaker together with the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide and the Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades.

Davutoğlu discussed the Cyprus issue with Cameron

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who went to the UK for a working visit, met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at his official residence. The negotiation process in Cyprus was discussed at the meeting that lasted an hour.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated his wishes that the Cyprus problem would be resolved with the support of the guarantor country UK this year.

Šefčovič: “Plans are available for accelerating the South gas corridor”

Emphasizing that the EU and Turkey have a strategic partnership, the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said, “Plans are available for accelerating the South gas corridor, this project can be connected to the sources of the neighbouring countries. Especially the reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean promise great hope for the security of the natural gas supply of the region.”

Responding to the questions of the AA reporter, Šefčovič indicated that they will be in cooperation with Turkey for the project of “Energy Union” and said that they discussed this in their meeting with EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır that the cooperation can be carried one step further.

Protest from Turkish diplomats about the freezing of the bank accounts

The Association of Turkish Cypriots Abroad (ATCA) protested that Turkish diplomats in the UK have allegedly seen their bank accounts frozen following a British court decision implementing a ruling taken in respect of Greek Cypriots and described it as “putting the Turkish side under pressure and malicious behaviour and decision”.

Indicating its concerns by sending a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, ATCA called to revise the decision on this issue.

TRNC Tourism was promoted in Norway

The TRNC was promoted at the Reiselivsmessen 2016 Tourism Fair which was held in Oslo, Norway between the dates of 15-17 January. Meetings with tour operators were conducted at the fair where tourism marketing and promotion activities especially for the Norway and Scandinavia tourism sector were held.

TRNC Tourism Ministry attended to the Reiselivsmessen 2016 Norway Tourism Fair for the first time. Tour operators, airline companies, travel agencies, tourism writers, companies that produce tourism technologies, restaurants, tourist associations, hotels, ship tourism companies, tourism marketing companies and many professionals operating in the tourism sector especially from Norway, Scandinavia and other European countries attended the fair.