Cyprus has officially given its consent for a UN representative to be appointed to examine whether there is enough ground to relaunch negotiations from where they left off, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday.

The president, speaking on the sidelines of the European Council summit in Brussels, added that the government was informed on Wednesday night of the UN secretary general’s decision to proceed with the appointment.

“Cyprus’ consent was requested and today, just a short while ago, we gave our consent for the appointment,” Christodoulides said.

He concluded his comments in saying that: “I hope consent is given by other interested parties and at the soonest possible time we can begin negotiations from where they left off.”

Official negotiations on the Cyprus problem have been stalled since the Crans Montana talks in 2017, marking the longest period without such discussions.