The goal is for the informal enlarged meeting in Geneva to be “a step towards restarting negotiations from where they had been interrupted in the summer of 2017,” government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said shortly after the Greek Cypriot delegation arrived in Geneva.

In a post on X, Letymbiotis said the Greek Cypriot side’s “compass” was the “hope and potential for a reunified, free and European homeland.”

He added that any solution determined would have at its core “respect and defence of international justice as per the United Nations map, UN security council resolutions and European Union values.”

President Nikos Christodoulides departed on Sunday with the Greek Cypriot delegation for the informal conference on the Cyprus problem taking place in Switzerland on March 17 and 18. 

Also on the flight were former President Nicos Anastasiades, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna, party leaders – members of the National Council, and associates of the president.

Ahead of his departure on Sunday, Christodoulides said every opportunity will be used to create the conditions for the resumption of dialogue and said he expected the informal enlarged meeting to mark the continuation of the initiative in this direction.

The enlarged meeting will take place in three stages. The first is a dinner on Monday at 8pm (local time) hosted by Antonio Guterres and attended by the heads of the two sides’ delegations, Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers, and British minister of state for Europe and North America, Stephen Doughty.

At midday local time, Christodoulides will preside over a meeting of the national council.

On Tuesday morning the president will have a meeting with Guterres, accompanied by the foreign minister, the deputy minister for Europe, the government spokesman, negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and National Security Advisor Tasos Tzonis.

The UNSG will also hold a separate meeting with the Turkish Cypriot delegation members.

A broad meeting is scheduled to take place at 1pm on Tuesday, during which Guterres is expected to announce decisions.

Tatar left for Geneva on Sunday with a stopover in Turkey where in an interview he said the Turkish Cypriot side “would not back down from the two-state solution model” and that the the federation chapter was closed.

Other members of the Turkish Cypriot delegation left for Geneva on Sunday afternoon.