President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday told new United Nations special representative in Cyprus Khassim Diagne of his “political will” to “create the appropriate conditions for the resumption of talks” to solve the Cyprus problem.

He also expressed his will to “address the challenges” and said that talks to resolve the Cyprus problem should resume from where they left off in Crans Montana in 2017.

Diagne, meanwhile, was quoted by the presidential palace as having said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “extremely committed to the process of solving the Cyprus problem”.

He also reportedly said that he himself will “do everything possible to ensure that any activities undertaken by the UN in Cyprus will contribute substantially to ensuring the creation of conditions so that [Christodoulides] and the Turkish Cypriot leader [Tufan Erhurman] can engage in meaningful talks”.

“You can count on me and the [UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus] team,” he is quoted as having said.

After the meeting, Diagne told reporters that he had had the “opportunity … to introduce myself and to listen to [Christodoulides], his views”, and that he was “grateful for this meeting”.

He added that he is looking forward “to also have an opportunity when the time allows, when the schedule allows”, to meet new Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

Later on Wednesday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the meeting had been very constructive, and added that “what was discussed, the issues have been raised, which, as is known, due to Turkish provocation, remain pending”.

He added that Christodoulides had raised the matter of the five Greek Cypriots who remain on bail in the north, having been arrested near Trikomo in July, the issue of Varosha, the Green Line, and “the challenges we face daily”.

Asked whether there is now a clearer picture of what the next steps may be, he said the Greek Cypriot side hopes to have “telephone communication with Erhurman … as soon as possible”.

The meeting was Christodoulides and Diagne’s first since Diagne arrived in Cyprus to take up his new position last week,and comes ahead of a planned visit of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin to the island.

Letymbiotis said the Greek Cypriot side is now “awaiting official announcements” from the UN regarding Holguin’s arrival.

“I believe [that] the meeting with Erhurman will first be arranged, so that she can carry out a new round of contacts in Ankara, Athens, London, and Brussels, with the aim of convening an informal enlarged meeting,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail understands that Holguin will next visit the island at some point between November 3 and November 11.

It is expected that Diagne will meet Erhurman, who formally took office on Friday, in the coming days, though it is as yet unclear whether any date has been set for such a meeting to take place.

The Cyprus Mail reached out to Erhurman’s office over the matter of a first meeting with Diagne but received no response.

Holguin’s visit will come with a view to readying the ground for a third enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem of the year, expected to take place in New York towards the end of November.

That meeting, just as the previous two meetings, will be attended by representatives of Cyprus’ two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

Looking ahead to the next steps beyond that meeting, Letymbiotis said that the government and Christodoulides have “proven for two and a half years, in the most blatant way, that in adverse circumstances, there is a constructive stance on our part”. “Thanks to these initiatives that we have undertaken, this certain mobility which has occurred in the last two and a half years has been achieved. Beyond this, we now expect, in essence, the negotiation table, but also that in the discussions and meeting which will take place, that the real political will of the other side will become clear,” he said.