The forthcoming enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem to be held in Geneva next month is “vital to pave the way for positive developments”, the Bicommunal Peace Initiative – United Cyprus said on Friday.

In a letter sent to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the group said that “despite the prevailing negative political atmosphere, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots continue to believe that a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality is the only viable solution which can create the conditions for a peaceful future”.

“Your current efforts to break the deadlock, despite their uncertain outcome, are an incentive for the bicommunal movement to continue its efforts to achieve positive developments,” the group told Guterres.

It added, “we will continue to press for the opening of new crossing points as an urgent need to respond to the public’s needs”, while also expressing disappointment at the “inability of our leaders to find solutions which could lead to the opening of new crossing points”.

The group also welcomed the resolution passed by the UN Security Council at the end of last month when it extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) for another year.

The letter comes as UN under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo continues her tour of the region, now having met both President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, as well as government representatives from both Greece and Turkey.

On Thursday, she met Turkish deputy foreign minister and European Union affairs director Mehmet Kemal Bozay in Ankara. Bozay was deputising for Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was in Pakistan at the time.

She had met Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis on Wednesday, with Gerapetritis telling her a solution to the Cyprus problem is an “absolute priority” for his country, and insisting on a bizonal, bicommunal federation, in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

Christodoulides had said after his meeting with DiCarlo that he had suggested to her “five specific proposals”, but did not specify what they were.

Meanwhile, Tatar had told her that the “sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people must be accepted” for there to be constructive steps to be taken towards a solution.

Tatar had also said the meeting would take place on March 17 or March 18, with Greek diplomatic sources confirming this selection of dates to the Cyprus News Agency the following day.

The enlarged meeting in March will see both Cyprus’ sides as well as representatives of the island’s three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN, convene to discuss the Cyprus problem.