Holguin cancels Cyprus visit for health reasons

Nicosia, Cyprus. UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin has cancelled her planned September 10 visit to the island for health reasons, according to reports on Saturday. Sources told Politis that her doctors had advised her not to travel by air.

Visit cancelled

Holguin had initially been expected to arrive in Cyprus on September 7 and attend the September 9 meeting between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

Her visit was first postponed because of illness and rescheduled for Thursday, September 10, but has now been cancelled.

It would have been her first visit to Cyprus since UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the island in late July. Holguin had been expected to remain on the island until the leaders’ following meeting on September 16.

Meetings and negotiations

According to the same information, Holguin is now expected to seek meetings with the two leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Meanwhile, Christodoulides said on Saturday that he hoped a document setting out existing convergences on the Cyprus problem would be ready before Holguin’s next visit. He said the document could provide a basis for an expanded conference and the resumption of negotiations.

Asked whether the document would be ready when Holguin returns to Cyprus, he said it would need to be presented to both sides and the guarantor powers.

“We hope that this document will be ready,” he said, adding that it could offer “a very good way for the talks to resume”.