Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 10-10-18

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] LEADERS - CYPRUS TALKS - DOWNER

[02] NICOSIA AIRPORT TURKISH OCCUPATION

[03] CYPRUS - SPORTS TOURISM

[01] LEADERS - CYPRUS TALKS - DOWNER

The meeting was held at the official residence of the UNFICYP Chief of Mission in the United Nations Protected Area (UNPA) Lisa Buttenheim, in Nicosia and lasted two and a half hours.

In statements after the meeting, UN Secretary Generals Special Adviser Alexander Downer said the leaders devoted most of the discussion to the ongoing issue of property, noting that their representatives will now take up the discussions for a while and they will be meeting again on Thursday. George Iacovou and Kudret Ozersay will have further meetings through the course of the following week as well, Downer added.

He also said the leaders will meet again on the 1st of November to review the work of the Representatives and the process will continue from there.

Asked if there is any reason why the leaders are handing over most of the work to the representatives, Downer replied I wouldnt put it as you have put it. The representatives work on the technical details, the leaders give them guidance, and, of course, the leaders are the people who make the decisions, not the representatives.

He explained that theres a lot to the property issue, there are a lot of aspects to it and that it is a fairly complex issue. And I think bearing that all in mind I think its important that that work be done at the representatives level. When they report to the leaders, the leaders give them instructions and guidance. Thats how the process works, he explained.

To a remark whether it would have been better if it was a simultaneous process, if there are more frequent meetings of the leaders at the same time, Downer replied Im not sure of the logic of that. I think the leadersthey dont need to review every couple of days, or every four days or three days the work of the representatives. But at certain points, at certain junctures, they need to. So I think thats probably the right way to handle it.

Asked if they have achieved any kind of progress today, Downer said they are continuing to work away at it. Its a big and a complex area, the property question. So, theyre working at it, he concluded.

[02] NICOSIA AIRPORT TURKISH OCCUPATION

In her opening remarks Monday at the ceremony of the Second ECAC/ACC Workshop on Underwater Recovery Operations, which takes place in the coastal town of Larnaka, Markoullis said that a severe setback to the aviation of Cyprus was caused by the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island, when Nicosia Airport, Cyprus Airways aircraft and much of the Air Navigation Services infrastructure were destroyed.

Through hard work, however, new infrastructure was put into service and by 1978 air traffic was fully restored at its earlier level and has flourished ever since, she noted. Referring to the Department of Civil Aviation, she said it handles more than 270.000 aircraft movements annually in the Nicosia FIR and more than 7 million passengers pass through Larnaca and Paphos International Airports.

[03] CYPRUS - SPORTS TOURISM

Sports Tourism, although it may sound a specialized term of tourism, has at the same time a broad meaning covering both competitive and entertaining aspects of the term, to the extent that it could constitute the answer to the seasonal nature of the Cypriot tourism. It could also contribute, in periods of financial crisis, and assist efforts to upgrade, diversify and enrich the island`s tourist product.

Cyprus has many comparative advantages concerning sports tourism: excellent climatic conditions all year round - especially mild winters - modern and well equipped sport facilities, high quality hotel services, other professional services, as well as a modern telecommunication system.

The term sport tourism is not alien to the island. It was introduced in the past decade, when football clubs, mainly from Scandinavian countries and Russia, have chosen Cyprus as their training venue. The ``big bang`` however occurred when the British Olympic Committee chose Cyprus as their training base ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. ``Then the dynamics were created and some stake holders began offering more packages on sport tourism,`` Nicos Kartakoullis, an academic and President of CSO, has told CNA in an interview. The arrival of British Olympic Athletes has placed the term sports tourism among the priorities of the state, while some time later the CTO hosted the first conference on sports tourism.

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