A key trilateral meeting on Cyprus is scheduled to take place today in Nicosia. The personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguín, will meet with the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, and the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Tufan Erhürman.
The meeting will begin at 11:00 local time at the residence of the head of the UN mission, located in Nicosia’s buffer zone. The announced talks are being organised by the United Nations.
The focus is on resuming negotiations
The agenda includes the methodology and content of future negotiations, as well as confidence-building measures between the two Cypriot communities. Possible new crossing points along the dividing line are also among the issues under discussion, but no agreement on their opening has been confirmed so far.
The meeting is part of diplomatic efforts to return to an official peace process after a prolonged deadlock. In recent weeks, Holguín held separate talks with Christodoulides and Erhürman, while the two leaders also met separately under the auspices of the United Nations.
Signals on next steps expected
President Nikos Christodoulides said that the process was pointing towards positive developments. “We are in a process which, according to the information available so far, points towards positive developments,” he said, adding that specific announcements could be made before the meeting.
Maria Angela Holguín also expressed hope for an outcome from the talks and pointed to the possibility of progress towards an expanded 5+1 meeting before the end of the year. The format envisages the participation of the two Cypriot leaders, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United Nations.
In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was ready to convene such a meeting with the aim of resuming full-fledged negotiations. Today’s meeting in Nicosia should show whether there is sufficient common ground to move from confidence-building measures to official political dialogue.
Sources: cyprus-mail.com, cna.org.cy, knews.kathimerini.com.cy