New UN envoy expected to take up duties as of January 1

From the first day of the new year a new UN envoy for Cyprus is expected to be in place, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday.

Asked when he expects the arrival of the UN Secretary-General’s envoy on the Cyprus problem, the president said: “We are waiting for the announcements of the Secretary-General. As far as I have been informed, the appointment is valid from the 1st of next year,” after a memorial service in Nicosia.

Immediately after the 1st of the year, the new envoy is scheduled to visit New York to meet UNSG Antonio Guterres, and then travel immediately to Cyprus, Christodoulides said.

“What I have asked for, taking into account my previous experience with envoys, experts or personal, is the need not to visit Cyprus only for 24 or 48 hours,” he added.

The envoy should come to the island, Christodoulides said, while visiting Ankara, London, Athens and Brussels

The envoy “should not spend just days in Cyprus, so as to create the conditions through discussion to reach the resumption of talks on the basis of the agreed framework”.

Both sides on the island have approved the appointment of Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar.

Cuellar served as foreign minister of Colombia between 2010 and 2018 and was also head of the Colombian mission to the UN and the ambassador of her country to Venezuela.