Guterres has a concrete plan for a Cyprus settlement, Christodoulides says

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has a clearly worked-out plan of action to resume negotiations on the Cyprus issue. The strategy is aimed at organizing an enlarged meeting and restarting the formal переговорging process.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to the village of Emba (Paphos district), Christodoulides said the UN chief informed him of his intentions back in March. The president stressed that he fully shares Guterres' approach and views. According to him, current efforts are focused on turning the Secretary-General's initiative into a practical framework for convening a multilateral meeting.

This process has developed step by step: first, Guterres visited Turkey and held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and then discussions took place with Christodoulides himself in Brussels. According to the publication's sources, Erdogan has already given the UN's new initiative the «green light», as he believes that the lack of a Cyprus settlement over recent decades carries costs for Turkey itself. The enlarged meeting is expected to bring together both communities on the island, the three guarantor powers (Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom) and the United Nations.

The process is expected to receive new momentum from the visit of the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy Maria Angela Holguin, who is arriving on the island for meetings with Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, after which she will travel to Ankara and Athens. Christodoulides described the upcoming talks with Holguin as extremely important for assessing the current situation and preparing the enlarged meeting, at which it is planned to officially announce the resumption of negotiations.