The Greek Cypriot negotiator, Menelaos Menelaou, and the representative of the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Dana are meeting on Wednesday, as preparations continue for talks between the two leaders in Cyprus.

The meeting is aimed at preparing for Thursday’s talks between the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman.

The leaders are due to meet on Thursday in the presence of the UN secretary general’s personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin. Holguin has been on the island since last Thursday evening. She has already held separate meetings with Christodoulides and Erhurman.

On Thursday, the two leaders will make a joint visit to the missing persons committee. The visit will include the anthropological laboratory linked to the committee’s work.

Speaking on Tuesday, President Christodoulides described Thursday’s meetings as very critical. He said the joint visit to the laboratory was intended to send a common message together with the Turkish Cypriot leader.

He also said the meeting with the UN personal envoy would be the first such joint meeting in many years held in the presence of a representative of the UN secretary general.

The president said he would attend the meeting with a clear objective. He said the aim was to create the conditions for the resumption of negotiations from the point where they stopped in Crans-Montana.

He added that he was ready to discuss confidence-building measures. This includes the implementation of what was already agreed with the UN secretary general, as well as new ideas. He said this would take place alongside substantive work towards restarting talks, which he described as the main objective.

It is also stated that President Christodoulides has called a meeting of the national council for Friday. The political leadership will be briefed on the outcomes of the latest contacts.