The meeting of Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar is scheduled to take place on Monday, 05 May at 11:00 hours, the UN has announced.
According to the UN office in Cyprus, the meeting will take place at the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Cyprus in the Nicosia airport UN-protected area. The leaders will continue discussion on the issues which they agreed on during their last meeting on 2nd of April.
President Christodoulides and Ersin Tatar had agreed to establish a Technical Committee on Youth, to conduct discussions on demining at the level of the Greek Cypriot Negotiator and the Turkish Cypriot Special Representative, and to work on initiatives related to the environment and the restoration of cemeteries, during their first meeting in Cyprus after the informal meeting in broader format, in Geneva. Moreover, aides were tasked to continue discussions on crossing points and solar energy in the buffer zone.
According to a joint statement by the two leaders, issued by the UN following their meeting “the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, met at their own initiative to follow up on the Geneva informal broader format meeting under the auspices of the Secretary-General.”
The two leaders had “agreed to establish a Technical Committee on Youth and provide by 15 April to the United Nations a list of members”, also agreeing that “the Committee would have 12 members from each side and that all would be under 35 years of age”, while endeavouring “to aim for gender parity.” The two sides have already named the members of the committee.
Furthermore, the two leaders agreed that “the issue of demining would be discussed at the level of the Greek Cypriot Negotiator and the Turkish Cypriot Special Representative and that they would exchange information on a proportional number of suspected hazardous areas from each.”
They also agreed that the Technical Committee on Environment “would work on initiatives related to the environment and climate change, including the impacts on mining areas, and that the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage would be tasked to work on the restoration of cemeteries.”
On crossing points and solar energy in the buffer zone, the leaders had “a constructive exchange” and that they “tasked their representatives to continue discussions of the issues, with the view to finding a mutually acceptable resolution”.
In remarks after the meeting, President Christodoulides spoke of “one more positive step” leader Ersin Tatar in the, noting that there was progress in 4 out of 6 issues.
This was the first meeting of the two leaders, in the presence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Colin Stewart, after the informal meeting in broader format, in Geneva, last month. Speaking to the press, President Christodoulides said that “we have positive results today.” He spoke of “one more positive step” adding that “we continue” and pointed to a joint statement to be issued by the United Nations.
We undertook certain commitments vis-à-vis the UN Secretary General and this is the reason I asked for the meeting to take place immediately, he said, adding that “we started implementing the things we promised.” He underlined that “in 4 out of 6 issues, there is progress.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary General announced that an informal meeting on Cyprus in a broader format will be held at the end of July, following a similar meeting in Geneva, on March 17-18. Antonio Guterres also announced that he will appoint a new personal envoy on Cyprus to prepare the next steps, while the two sides agreed to proceed with a number of initiatives, involving the opening of crossing points, the creation of a Technical Committee on Youth and other initiatives in the buffer zone and throughout the island.
Also read: UN to appoint Cyprus envoy and announces July meeting
Source: CNA
