THE US wishes to be part of any fresh effort, under UN leadership, to renew the stalled talks on Cyprus with a view to finding a negotiated settlement, US Undersecretary at the State Department Nicholas Burns has said.

In his remarks to participants of the third annual meeting of the International Coordinating Committee- Justice For Cyprus, Burns dismissed any suggestions of bringing back a the Annan plan, which the overwhelming majority of Greek Cypriots rejected in the April 2004 referendum and which the Turkish Cypriots approved.

Burns met delegates of the Pseka conference at the State Department.

"We want the United States to be part of an effort to renew the talks aiming at the settlement. We probably might have disagreement with some people with the Annan Plan a couple of years ago. We can write a new chapter, we don't have to go back to something that tried and failed, " Burns added.

He said the US should be at the centre of this effort, along with the United Kingdom, as the two countries have played a leading role for three decades now and added, " I can pledge to you we can make that attempt under the leadership of the United Kingdom."

The US official reiterated that Washington does not recognise any other entity or state but the Republic of Cyprus and its government in Nicosia and it stands for the unification of the island.

Burns referred to the assistance Cyprus offered last year to 15,000 evacuees from Lebanon.

Burns expressed America's with to place the Cyprus issue among its priorities and his wish to visit the island at the right time for talks.

Noting that diplomats never give up in efforts to find a solution, Burns said that he and the US Foreign Minister Condoleezza Rice, encouraged the UN General Secretary to appoint his personal envoy for the Cyprus problem.

"We as the US wish to be part of the effort to renew talks aiming at a settlement. Perhaps we had a disagreement with some people about the Annan Plan two years ago, it was a good effort in good faith, which, as the US, we supported, " Burns said.

The American official expressed the belief that the US should be at the centre of this effort, together with the UK, as the new countries for decades played a leading role.

"I promise you we can do this effort under the auspices of the UN," he said.

Burns stressed that the American government continues to state that it disagrees with the division of Cyprus and the solution of two states.

"We want to see the Turkish government to commit itself to a solution of the problem, " said referring to Turkey as a precious ally of the US and supporting its accession to the EU.
He then expressed his government's support for the July 8 agreement stating that the US wants to make the Cyprus problem their priority.

Burns said that during his forthcoming visit to Turkey he would again raise issues related to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as he did in January, when he visited Ankara.