President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, will preside over a meeting of the National Council, the top advisory body to the President on the handling of the Cyprus issue, to brief its members on the latest developments following UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' and EU Special Representative for Cyprus, Raffaele Fitto's, recent visits to the island.
The meeting of the National Council will scheduled to begin at 10.30am, today, Monday, 3 August.
President Christodoulides on Saturday said that preparatory work has already begun with the United Nations at a technocratic level to create the conditions for a successful expanded conference on the Cyprus issue.
He noted that the preparatory work will continue throughout August.
It is recalled that last week UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held contacts in Cyprus. It was his first visit to the island. The same week, newly appointed EU Special Representative for Cyprus, Raffaele Fitto, also held a series of meetings in Nicosia.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term is nearing its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.
(Source: CNA)