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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release May 18, 2000
                  TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
             TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
                AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE
                          ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

May 18, 2000

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Chairman:)

In accordance with Public Law 95-384 (22 U.S.C. 2373(c)), I submit to you this report on progress toward a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus question covering the period February 1-March 31, 2000. The previous submission covered events during December 1999 and January 2000.

As noted in my last submission, the United Nations has held two sessions of proximity talks, December 3-14, 1999, in New York and January 31-February 8 in Geneva. The next session of talks was scheduled to begin on May 23 in New York. This session will likely be postponed several weeks to allow President Clerides time to recover from surgery on May 5.

The United States, under the guidance of my Special Presidential Emissary Alfred H. Moses and Special Cyprus Coordinator Thomas G. Weston, has been actively engaged in supporting the United Nations effort to bring about a comprehensive Cyprus settlement. Ambassador Moses and his team were present during the Geneva talks and afterwards traveled to Cyprus in March to prepare for the next sessions of talks.

Sincerely,

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

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