By Michele Kambas and John O'Donnell
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus is committed to the terms of its bailout programme, its president said on Wednesday, stating the island would recover economically this year and post modest growth in 2016.
In remarks to an audience including members of the European Central Bank's decision-making Governing Council and President Mario Draghi, Nicos Anastasiades said the island was already showing 'tangible' results in its reform programme.
"At national level we will continue the effort for reforms, with the same decisiveness and determination," Anastasiades said. "I remain positive that we will soon deliver what is expected from us."
The remarks strike a markedly more conciliatory tone from that of a combative new government in Athens, underscoring the differences between the former British colony and neighbouring Greece.
The gathering took place at the Presidential Palace. Earlier, demonstrators had protested against austerity.
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"We feel that we have been wrong done by," said Ioannis Xydis, an accountant and member of the Cypriot branch of Syriza, the leftist party now in power in Greece. "People have been told to pay for something they haven't done."
DRAGHI'S CAUTION
Addressing the same audience at the Presiential Palace, Draghi welcomed reform progress made by the country but said that there was no time for complacency and that more needed to be done in addressing bank loans at risk of non-payment.
Cyprus required a 10 billion euro international bailout in 2013. The aid pulled the island from the brink of bankruptcy following heavy losses at its banks from a Greek debt restructuring in 2011.
The ECB's support is important for Cyprus because it is one of a trio of inspectors that oversee the country's programme of economic reform, agreed in return for aid, and because it plays an important role in the funding of banks.
It recently, for example, made it more difficult for Greek banks to access direct ECB funds by refusing to accept Greek bonds as security, making the lenders largely reliant on emergency back-up.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas and John O'Donnell; Editing by Ralph Boulton)