Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-10-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Clinton - CEH - Cyprus issue

[02] Simitis - Clerides - meeting

[01] Clinton - CEH - Cyprus issue

US President Bill Clinton's latest statements regarding the ongoing Cyprus dispute and the recent relapse in Greek-Turkish relations were applauded on Saturday by the Greek-American organisation National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH), which welcomed his remarks as tacit recognition that Turkey could not become a member of the European Union until the Cyprus problem had been solved.

Speaking to reporters in the White House on Friday after a press conference on budget disputes with Congress, Clinton expressed regret that "entrenched and unmovable positions in Cyprus," were keeping "Turkey more at arm's length from Europe."

The US President also said that he would continue working on the problem even after leaving office, and that the lack of progress in the Cyprus issue was one of the few "real disappointments I have, after eight years of working in the foreign policy field."

[02] Simitis - Clerides - meeting

NICOSIA (ANA - G. Leonidas) - Prime Minister Costas Simitis will be meeting with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Cyprus Parliament speaker Spyros Kyprianou in mid November, it was announced here on Saturday.

The meetings will be held immediately after the end of the fifth round of Cyprus proximity talks in Geneva, to assess the results of the talks and decide a joint strategy in view of the EU summit in Nice in December, which Clerides will also attend, and the UN resolution on whether to renew the term of the UN peace-keeping force UNFICYP on Cyprus.

The meeting between Simitis and Kyprianou is scheduled for November 13, while the next day there will be a meeting at Simitis' office with Clerides, who will stop over in Athens on his return from Geneva.

The talks will also be attended by close associates of Simitis and Clerides.

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