Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Cassoulides and the Head of Cyprus' Negotiating Team for EU accession Georgos Vassiliou attended the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee session in Brussels this week. Upon his return last evening, Mr. Cassoulides stated that the EU enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen made quite clear that Cyprus will be among the countries to join the European Union during the next enlargement due for 1 January 2004. Further, Mr. Verheugen underlined that Cyprus' accession course is proceeding despite the adverse developments on the political problem caused by the Turkish Cypriot stance.

Mr. Cassoulides further reported that it was also ascertained from the session in Brussels that the European Union recognises Cyprus' efforts against terrorism and dismissed reports pertaining to money laundering recently seen in the press.