A senior United Nations official will visit the island next week for separate talks with the two sides, President Nikos Christodoulides confirmed on Thursday.

He was referring to Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN under-secretary-general for peace-building.

Taking questions at a social function, Christodoulides said the UN official will in fact be here on Monday, February 10 – as previously reported.

He also confirmed DiCarlo would hold separate meetings with the leaders of the two communities.

“And should the desire come up for holding a joint meeting, I’m ready for that,” he added.

The president was also asked about the fact that a scheduled meeting of the two sides’ chief negotiators did not take place, and whether this might ‘freeze’ a possible second meeting of the leaders.

“Whatever Mrs DiCarlo can do to help, the response from our side is positive,” Christodoulides commented.

“I expect [Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin] Tatar to come out with a position in relation to specific proposals we submitted during our first meeting, be it about the crossing points, or Pyla, or some other options. If there is a response, then, I repeat, I am ready.”

The president was next asked whether he discerns any “progress” in terms of the Turkish Cypriot side’s stance.

“No,” he responded. “Had there been any progress, the meeting [of the chief negotiators] would have taken place.”

Earlier, it was suggested that Christodoulides and Tatar would meet a second time, just ahead of the UN official’s arrival. The two leaders had held talks on January 20.

DiCarlo’s upcoming trip is said to prepare the ground for a informal high-level meeting on the Cyprus issue.

She will next travel to Ankara and Athens to meet members of the Turkish and Greek governments.