Cyprus's newly-discovered wealth of offshore natural gas could boost the prospects for a peace settlement on the divided island, President Nicos Anastasiades has said a few days after Nicosia said it had picked Eni, Total and ExxonMobil for three exploration licenses.

Greece and Cyprus are a field of stability in a wider region of conflicts and destabilisation," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after his meeting with President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades.

The Cyprus problem was among the issues US President Barak Obama discussed during a phone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan.