Holguin calls confidence-building measures indispensable before enlarged Cyprus meeting

Nicosia, Cyprus. United Nations Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin said on Sunday that implementing confidence-building measures is an “indispensable condition” before a possible enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem can be convened.

She said such measures should serve as practical tests of cooperation and help address public concerns about a future solution.

Confidence-building measures

Speaking to Turkey’s Anka news agency, Holguin said confidence-building measures should not be regarded merely as symbolic steps to improve the atmosphere between the two communities.

“They are practical tools which test the viability of a future political order,” she said, adding that they are important in demonstrating whether cooperation works in practice and can create the collaborative habits needed for a future solution.

Holguin said fears of a solution or change can only be overcome through concrete implementation on the ground. She added that societies’ anxieties can be reduced where such measures do not affect daily life.

Conditions for an enlarged meeting

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the end of his visit to Cyprus last month that a new enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem would be convened after adequate progress had been achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

Earlier this week, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos said confidence-building measures naturally help create a climate but are not a prerequisite for convening an enlarged meeting, a position at odds with Holguin’s comments.

Negotiation framework

On the substance of the Cyprus problem, Holguin said Guterres is seeking to determine the final act of the process rather than prepare a new comprehensive plan for a solution.

She said that, after years of intermittent and open-ended negotiations, a process without a clear sequence, concrete proposals or accountability risks failing again.

Holguin said the essential change needed concerns how Cypriots perceive existing realities and the tools that can transform them. She said it would be easier to enter formal negotiations under predetermined rules if the sides had a concrete framework with clearly defined parameters, substance and method, as well as an idea of the possible outcome.

She said this could only be achieved if both sides made a genuine commitment and were ready to begin the process, adding that this was not as difficult as it may seem.