The two leaders will continue efforts to reach agreements on the various trust-building initiatives that are on the table, as well as towards the start of substantive negotiations, the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, María Angela Holguin, said in a written statement following her meeting, on Wednesday, with President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.
The meeting, which lasted about two hours, took place at the residence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia.
In her written statement, Holguin said that the leaders shared their proposals to chart a way forward to start substantive negotiations. She added that the leaders reviewed the work on the list of the trust-building initiatives previously put on the table and noted some of the advances achieved between both sides.
“They will now continue efforts to reach agreements on the various trust-building initiatives that are on the table as well as towards the start of substantive negotiations,” she said.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Holguin noted that dialogue remains important at this stage of the process.
“When you are just preparing the field for a negotiation, it is always good to be together and to share views and to talk about many things, even if they are not something special as a result. But I think it was a good talk between them, between substance and between CBMs,” she said.
Asked by journalists whether there will be a new meeting of the leaders, Holguin replied, “it depends on them. Because we need results on the CBMs. So I am waiting for something more.”
Responding to a question on whether she was disappointed with the outcome of the meeting, she said, “No, I am not disappointed. All the processes are dynamic. This is a little bit slower. But we are continuing.”
Asked whether the two leaders had responded to her call for progress, she said, “I think maybe they are going to. Not yet.”
Referring to specific advances, Holguin said with regards to the halloumi issue, that it “is going to be in a month,” while “the road tariff is going to be in three weeks,” adding that she did not want to be more precise at this stage because further work is needed.
Asked about a meeting in broader format and whether a “5+1” meeting next month should be ruled out, Holguin said that, for the time being, such a meeting is not expected to take place.
