Holguín returning to Cyprus for a series of contacts

The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, is expected to arrive in Cyprus on the evening of 7 May, where she will stay until May 14.

This will be her third mission to the island, as she looks for common ground between parties, in the context of efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

On 8 MAy, she will have separate meetings with the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, at the Presidential Palace at 10 am local time, and with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, at noon in the occupied areas of the Republic.

As announced by the UN last week, during her visit she will meet with the leaders of the two communities as well as a wide range of other interlocutors, businesspeople and members of the civil society.

Prior to her visit to Cyprus, Holguín travelled to Brussels for meetings with European Union officials, as well as to other capitals, including Ankara, where she met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

President Christodoulides said that this week is important for the Cyprus problem as Holguín is coming to Cyprus and expressed hope that there will be such facts "that will allow us to be optimistic about the resumption of talks."

Moreover, in his Easter message, he reiterated that his primary concern, despite the difficulties and challenges due to the behaviour of the Turkish side, is the resumption of substantive negotiations for a settlement of the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed framework.

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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue. 

(Source: CNA)