Leaders of parliamentary parties, with the exception of Elam, will accompany President Nikos Christodoulides to Geneva for the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, scheduled for March 17 and 18.

Parliamentary parties have a seat at the National Council, the advisory body to the president on the Cyprus problem.

The leaders of Disy, Akel, Diko, Edek, and Dipa – Annita Demetriou, Stefanos Stefanou, Nikolas Papadopoulos, Marinos Sizopoulos, and Marios Karoyian, respectively – along with Kyriakos Tsimillis, vice president of the Green Party, will all be traveling with the president.

Elam has opted not to participate.

Its leader, Christos Christou, stated after the latest National Council meeting that he did not expect the Geneva discussions to yield significant results. He argued that, given the absence of appropriate conditions, the Republic of Cyprus should not attend.

The meeting follows a regional visit last month by UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo.

The enlarged talks will bring together representatives from both sides of Cyprus, as well as the island’s three guarantor powers – Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom – along with the United Nations, to discuss the Cyprus problem.