President Nikos Christodoulides will have a new meeting with UNSG personal envoy María Ángela Holguín this afternoon, Tuesday, 3 November. The meeting is scheduled for 3.15pm local time, the Presidency has announced.
Holguín met with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman on Monday. A tripartite meeting between Holguín and the two leaders is scheduled for 9 November.
The President on 2 November said that the Greek Cypriot side is awaiting responses to both proposals submitted to the UN and to the issues discussed with the envoy. Holguín herself said that she remains optimistic after the talks with the Turkish Cypriot leader and in view of the tripartite meeting.
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 a 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 Ángela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked with engaging 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)
