Mr Major’s Joint Doorstep Interview with President Vassiliou – 21 October 1991

Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint doorstep interview with President Vassiliou of Cyprus, given in Harare on 21st October 1991.

PRESIDENT VASSILIOU:

We had an extremely useful and interesting meeting with Prime Minister, John Major. I had the opportunity to discuss with him the latest developments on the Cyprus issue, the latest Resolution by the Security Council and I also used the opportunity to express our thanks to him both for the support of the UK Government and of the Commonwealth in our efforts to have a solution as quick as possible and I would like to thank you once more for your understanding and your goodwill, Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you President Vassiliou and I have had a number of meetings over the last year and we keep in close touch about the particularly intractable problem of Cyprus. We all want to see a solution, a satisfactory solution. We very strongly have supported the moves by the Secretary-General to that effect. We hope we are going to see an international conference. We hope we are going to see a settlement. It is our very clear view that that is in the interests of everyone who lives on the island of Cyprus. The sooner the better and I hope everyone will work to that end.