Nicosia, Cyprus. United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will hold a tripartite meeting next Wednesday, the UN’s office in Cyprus said on Friday. The meeting will follow separate meetings Holguin will hold with Christodoulides and Erhurman the previous day.
Schedule and purpose of meetings
The UN office in Cyprus confirmed the tripartite meeting will be held the day after Holguin meets each leader separately and said its purpose is “to follow up on” the previous tripartite meeting held last month. The office also said Holguin met the European Union’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and that she will arrive in Cyprus on Monday.
Turkish Cypriot leader’s remarks
Erhurman said on Monday he hopes Holguin’s forthcoming visit to the island will “yield concrete results aimed at creating the atmosphere for a solution” and said the Turkish Cypriot side is “ready for the meeting”. He added that, in line with what he described as a results-oriented approach, the Turkish Cypriot side wants technical-level work accelerated before the meeting and for Holguin’s visit to yield concrete results.
Potential enlarged meeting
A fresh enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem is expected in the weeks following Holguin’s visit, involving the island’s two sides, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN.
Previous tripartite meeting and joint statement
After the previous tripartite meeting, the sides issued a joint statement saying “the real aim is the solution of the Cyprus problem with political equality as described by the United Nations security council resolutions”. The statement said the meeting included a “stocktaking discussion on previously agreed trust building initiatives” and discussion of new ideas.
The statement said the sides agreed to concentrate on achieving new agreements as soon as possible, especially on the opening of new crossing points, the halloumi issue, and the construction of pipelines from the Mia Milia water treatment plant. Christodoulides said after the previous meeting that it had been held in a “very good atmosphere”.
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