President Nikos Christodoulides and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke on the phone on Thursday, exchanging views on the next steps regarding efforts to resume Cyprus peace talks.

According to a written statement released by the government spokesman, the UN Secretary General reaffirmed his commitment to a settlement of the Cyprus problem within the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

On his part, Christodoulides reiterated his readiness to resume talks from where they left off at Crans Montana in July of 2017.

The president “underlined the added value of appointing an envoy of the Secretary-General for the Cyprus issue,” the statement read.

During the telephone conversation, Christodoulides also informed the Secretary-General about the outcome of his contacts with European leaders, regarding his proposal for more active EU involvement in efforts to lift the deadlock and resume the Cyprus talks.

The two also exchanged views on the next steps in the direction of the effort to restart reunification talks and agreed to stay in contact.