President Nikos Christodoulides on Saturday said he is ready to take part in an expanded informal conference on the Cyprus issue even before the end of 2025. 

He made the statement while attending the annual general assembly of the federation of building contractors associations in Nicosia.

The president stressed that political will from all sides is essential. He said the Greek Cypriot side is fully prepared and hopes for a positive response from other parties.

On December 11, President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will visit the missing persons committee laboratory from 3.15pm to 4pm. They will then hold a joint meeting in the presence of UN secretary-general’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin from 4pm to 5.30pm, before attending the UN’s annual Christmas event together.

President Christodoulides said the main aim of these meetings is to lay the foundation for the informal conference. He emphasised that the goal is to restart negotiations from where they ended at the Crans-Montana talks in 2017.

“I want to publicly declare that I am ready for this meeting,” he said. “I conveyed this to the Turkish Cypriot leader, and I will convey it to Ms Holguin. We have a meeting on December 6, and I am ready for the informal multilateral conference to take place before the end of the year.”

He confirmed that a preparatory meeting of the two negotiators took place on Friday. He said such meetings will continue to ensure a positive outcome on December 11.

Asked about the agenda, he said the key issue remains the resumption of talks from the point they stopped at Crans-Montana.

President Christodoulides also addressed a question about Turkey’s Safe programme application to the EU. He said Turkey has effectively excluded itself from participation. Any involvement by a third country requires a security agreement approved by all 27 EU member states, including Cyprus.

He reiterated that while he cannot speak on behalf of other parties, the Greek Cypriot side is ready and has political will. 

“Yesterday evening, for example, I held an internal meeting on this matter and we are fully ready,” he said. 

“I hope all parties respond positively so that this meeting can have a good outcome.”