Ambassador Andreas Mavrommatis — who is the Greek Cypriot side’s negotiator in the Cyprus peace talks — will review progress in the work of the bicommunal technical committees at a meeting with Greek Cypriot members in early September, government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said on Friday.
“This is a regular meeting during which progress in the work of the technical committees is reviewed,” he said.
As regards confidence building measures, he said that President Nicos Anastasiades had submitted proposals for 21 measures with the Turkish occupied ghost city of Famagusta top of the list.
“Of course the issue of Famagusta is of course a top issue. Unfortunately we see the opposite movements in the occupied areas. The President of the Republic has revived the idea in line with UN Security Council decisions for the setting up of a UN committee to study and prepare for the town to be handed back to its legal residents in compliance with UN resolutions,” he said.
The opening of additional checkpoints, including those at Athienou -Pirroi and at Kokkina was also high on the list of priorities.
The Cyprus News Agency said that during the meeting under Mavroyiannis  the technical committees will be encouraged to participate in the EU’s “Support facility to bi-communal Technical Committees”.
The EU has allocated 1 million euro over two years for this facility — beginning from April 2019.
A source told CNA that there has been some interest but not from all the committees. The meeting would give further explanation as to how this programme works and how it can be used,
According to an UNDP announcement issued at the end of July four proposals submitted by the technical committees had received the green light for EU funding. The proposals had been submitted by the committees on crime, on humanitarian issues, on the environment and on education.
They cover participation in a Cambridge University workshop to jointly manage issues, participation in the Angels of peace programme, coordination on environment issues and the publication on a pilot basis of training manuals on peace education.
