‘Still a lack of trust on halloumi issue’

President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday received delegations from associations involved in the halloumi making process.

The meeting was attended by Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou and other state officials.

After the meeting, which lasted about three and a half hours, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that during the meeting “all views were heard. What was evident was the lack of trust, which is obviously due to the history of the whole issue. The dialogue will continue, a new round of meetings will be held under the Minister of Agriculture.”

He continued: “What has been made clear by the president of the republic and what the government’s objectives are and remain, is the preservation of halloumi as a PDO and its preservation as the main export product of Cyprus. We will continue our efforts; we have a transitional period until 2029 and we want to maintain normality during this period. These two objectives are the government’s compass to which it remains steadfast. We are continuing our efforts, and our decisions will be taken within this axis.”

Asked if there were any timetables for the meetings to follow and by when decisions should be taken, he said: “they will be made very soon, in the very near future. I repeat that the government’s decisions will be taken with this in mind: the two axes I mentioned.”