The European Commission’s Cyprus envoy Raffaele Fitto on Friday said he is “here, above all, to listen” as he concluded his first visit to the island since being appointed to the role earlier this month.

“Today in Cyprus, I had the opportunity to meet President Nikos Christodoulides, leader of the Greek Cypriot community, and Mr Tufan Erhurman, leader of the Turkish Cypriot community … This is my first visit to the island in this role, and I am here, above all, to listen,” he said.

He added that the European Union “remains fully committed to supporting the United Nations-led process and the efforts of the UN secretary-general”.

“I look forward to returning to Cyprus soon to continue engaging with the stakeholders,” he said.

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In addition to meeting both Christodoulides and Erhurman, Fitto also met Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, who offered some insight into what the envoy’s next steps may be.

“I think we can all understand that a commission vice president also has points of contact with Turkey, which have existed for quite some time,” he said, before saying that “we need to be a little patient in terms of external organisational planning which needs to be done within the European Union”.

However, he said, “we hope that very soon, these contacts will bring positive results which will continue to exist”.

Later in the day, Fitto met the staff of the European Union programme support office in the north. The office falls under the EU’s directorate general for structural reform support (DG-Reform), which falls under Fitto’s main brief as the commission’s executive vice president for cohesion and reforms.

Of this visit, he said that “every project, partnership, and dialogue we support, also through the aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, reflects the EU’s commitment to bringing people closer, fostering opportunities, and investing in a better future for Cyprus”.

At the most recent annual allocation of the EU’s aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community in September last year, the European Commission provided €33.7m worth of funding, which said it wished to “support its socioeconomic development and facilitate Cyprus’ reunification process”.

“The aid programme aims to boost trade between the two communities across the Green Line by facilitating the alignment of Turkish Cypriot products with EU standards, for instance in the dairy and agricultural sectors,” it said.

More than €760m worth of funding has been allocated to the Turkish Cypriot community through the programme since 2006.