French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he hopes for a solution to the Cyprus problem “so all Cypriots can live together on a reunified island”.

Speaking after the signing of a strategic partnership between the governments of France and Cyprus, he said he wished to “reiterate … how strongly France supports the United Nations’ mediation efforts for a just, comprehensive, and lasting settlement of the Cyprus issue”.

Such a settlement, he said, must be found “in accordance with the parameters agreed upon at the United Nations and compatible with the acquis communautaire” of the European Union.

To this end, he said he “welcomed” last week’s tripartite meeting attended by UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

“I hope these discussions will allow inter-Cypriot negotiations to resume quickly with a view to a just and lasting solution. You have my full support for these initiatives,” he said.

He then told Christodoulides that “I have always seen you as a man of dialogue, of responsibility, with much courage”, and stressed that France “has a clear position” on the Cyprus problem.

Christodoulides, Erhurman and Holguin spent more than three and a half hours in discussions last Thursday, with the UN saying they had included a “stocktaking discussion on previously agreed trust building initiatives”, as well as a discussion on new ideas.