Cyprus Talks: Two leaders to meet with UN chief in September

The two leaders have announced their readiness to hold a tripartite meeting with the UN secretary-general in September to plan a way forward to resume talks, the UN said on Friday following a meeting between Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci.

The meeting took place at the Chief of Mission’s residence in the United Nations Protected Area under the auspices of Special Representative/Deputy Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Elizabeth Spehar and started at 9.30am.

The meeting, that ended at around 12.30pm, was the first between the two leaders since last February.

The joint statement released by the UN, said Anastasiades and Akinci had a sincere and constructive exchange of views and they discussed in depth the basic principles.

They decided to continue engaging in the efforts undertaken by Ms Jane Holl Lute with the determination to finalise the Terms of Reference that would enable structured and results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement with a sense of urgency, the UN said.

The two leaders also decided to announce their readiness to hold a tripartite meeting with the secretary-general after the United Nations General Assembly next month in order to plan the way forward, the statement said.

Regarding confidence-building measures, the two leaders welcomed the implementation of the ones they formerly announced, including the electricity interconnectivity and mobile phone interoperability that would facilitate greater interaction between the two communities.

The two leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to intensifying the work of the Technical Committees with the objective of improving the daily lives of all Cypriots and to implementing further confidence-building measures, with UN support, the statement said.

Source: Cyprus Mail