President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday (5 April) received the European Commission's Enlargement Director Michael Leigh, who was sent to the island within the framework of the EU's initiatives to give 139 million Euros in financial aid to the Turkish Cypriots.

Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Serdar Denktas, Finance Minister Ahmet Uzun and several high ranking bureaucrats also attended the meeting, where views were exchanged on the EU's financial aid envisaged for the Turkish Cypriots.

Speaking after the meeting, Leigh said they had discussed ways of implementing the financial aid, the technical issues regarding the financial aid's implementation, finding experts, and the role of the European Commission's experts and officials. He said issues that priority would be given to in the financial aid regulation were also taken up and this included energy, environment, waste water and solid waste.