Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will meet under United Nations auspices on August 26 as preparations continue for a new expanded conference on the Cyprus peace process. The meeting is scheduled for 4pm.
Conference preparations
The meeting was agreed by the negotiators of the two sides on Wednesday and follows UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Cyprus last week.
According to the presidency, the discussions are intended to prepare the ground for a new expanded conference aimed at resuming “substantive negotiations from the point where they were interrupted”.
The process will seek a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem “on the basis of the agreed framework and the convergences that have been achieved”.
UN position
Guterres committed to convening another expanded informal meeting after what he described as adequate preparation on confidence-building measures, methodology and substance.
Speaking after his visit to the island, he said the next meeting would take place only once the necessary groundwork had been completed to maximise prospects for progress.
“We must prepare the next meeting well, to ensure that it leads to a solution,” he said, adding that the United Nations would work with both sides and the guarantor powers “to create the conditions for the success of the meeting”.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq later said the Secretary General’s approach remained consistent with the organisation’s policy on Cyprus and that references to the parties involved were made when considered useful in advancing the process.
