Nicosia, Cyprus. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is visiting Cyprus to discuss efforts to advance the peace process and support stability on the island, including the work of the UN peacekeeping force.
Meetings with leaders
Guterres arrived in Cyprus on Monday evening, according to the Cyprus News Agency. He was welcomed by his Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin and the UN’s special representative on the island, Khassim Diagne.
On Tuesday morning, he is scheduled to hold separate meetings with President Nikos Christodoulides and Erhurman at their official residences.
Later on Tuesday, Guterres will visit the Committee on Missing Persons. He is due to hold a tripartite meeting with both leaders on Wednesday at the UN good offices mission.
Call for renewed negotiations
Earlier on Monday, Holguin said Guterres would encourage the island’s two leaders to re-enter negotiations aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem.
“The mission of [Guterres] is to facilitate, encourage the people and the leaders to look forward for a negotiation [process] and this is why he is coming,” she said after meeting Christodoulides.
Holguin said she hoped progress would be achieved during the secretary-general’s visit. She added that she had returned from meetings in Brussels and Ankara, where discussions focused on points needed to move the process forward.
Government expectations
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis described Guterres’ visit as very important.
He said the Greek Cypriot side hoped the meetings would serve as a springboard for an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem involving the two sides, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
