The government on Tuesday received an official invitation from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to attend the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem which is set to take place on March 17 and March 18, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed.

He said the letter “points out that the objective of the meeting is a substantive exchange of views on achieving progress on the Cyprus issue”.

He added that the meeting will begin with a meal on March 17, before continuing with bilateral contacts the following day, with a plenary session of the participants set to take place at the end of the two days at the Palais des Nations.

A more detailed agenda for the meeting is set to be announced in due course.

Related Articles

Additionally, he said, Guterres had “reiterated the UN’s firm commitment to the search for a common framework for progress on the Cyprus problem, expressing the hope that this meeting will give impetus to a positive dynamic for the future”.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side will “approach this expanded meeting with a constructive attitude and a sincere political will, with the aim of it serving as a springboard for the resumption of negotiations from the point where they have been interrupted”.

The enlarged meeting comes after UN under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo had completed a tour of the region last month.

While in Cyprus, she had met both President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, with the former saying he had suggested to her “five specific proposals” but not specifying what they are.

“The holding of the enlarged conference is a positive development. From there, what I conveyed to DiCarlo is that what is important is that there is a positive result. It is precisely within this context that I suggested five specific proposals in relation to a positive result through the enlarged conference,” Christodoulides said.

Tatar 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.

“The Turkish Cypriot people are the primary element in Cyprus and have an inherent right to sovereignty, and I conveyed those vital rights at the meeting,” he said.

After leaving Cyprus, DiCarlo met Gerapetritis in Athens. Gerapetritis told 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.

She then travelled to Ankara, meeting Turkish deputy foreign minister and European Union affairs director Mehmet Kemal Bozay, who was deputising for Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was on the day in Pakistan.

The enlarged meeting 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.