President Nikos Christodoulides on Saturday expressed hope that a document setting out existing convergences on the Cyprus problem will be ready ahead of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin’s next visit, saying it could provide the basis for an expanded conference and the resumption of negotiations.

Asked whether the document would be ready by the time Holguin returns to Cyprus, Christodoulides said it would need to be presented to both sides and the guarantor powers.

“We hope that this document will be ready,” he said, adding that it could offer “a very good way for the talks to resume”.

Once agreement is reached, he said, the negotiating acquis should be preserved and an expanded conference convened, during which the resumption of negotiations on the basis of existing convergences could be announced.

“Once we agree on the convergences, we know very well where there are no convergences, where the divergences are, negotiations can restart from the divergences,” he said.

Christodoulides said he was hopeful progress could be made in the meantime, pointing to another meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman in the coming week.

“I believe there is, to a significant degree, a common understanding on substantive issues and on issues of methodology,” he said, adding that confidence-building measures had also been discussed.

The president said he had also been informed on Friday that the date and time for his bilateral meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the UN General Assembly in New York had been set.

He said Guterres would also meet Erhurman following the official week of the General Assembly.

“We are ready on our side and I hope there will be the same political will, the same positive response from all parties involved,” Christodoulides said.

Turning to regional developments, the president said Tuesday’s Cyprus-Greece-Egypt three-way summit in El Alamein would focus primarily on developments in the wider region and ways in which the three countries could further strengthen their cooperation.

He described the meeting as an important trilateral, saying Cyprus enjoyed “excellent relations” with Egypt.

The three countries, he said, would discuss how they could contribute to creating conditions of security and cooperation in a region of particular geostrategic importance.

Christodoulides also pointed to the EU’s growing focus on the region, saying the second EU-Gulf summit would take place in Saudi Arabia in October and that he would attend.

Asked specifically whether the recently signed Mecca agreement would be discussed at the trilateral, Christodoulides said it would form part of the wider discussion on regional developments.

“Certainly, all developments in the region will be discussed,” he said.