President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday his priority for an upcoming meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman is to explore how to return to substantive negotiations.

Speaking to reporters, Christodoulides described Thursday’s agenda as “highly significant”.

The meeting will be the first in several years to take place under the auspice of the UN secretary general’s personal envoy. The two leaders will meet with Maris Angela Holguin on Thursday.

He said that any meaningful progress has proved impossible for the past two and a half years due to the inflexibility of the former Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, who demanded a two-state solution.

Christodoulides expressed hope that his meeting with Erhurman will address this, yet insisted that discussions “must pick up where they left off at Crans-Montana” in 2017.

He reiterated that he is prepared to move ahead with what was agreed with the UN Secretary-General, while also tabling several new proposals in parallel with efforts to restart formal talks.

Asked about the four conditions reportedly raised by Erhurman, the president, in apparent contradiction to his own prerequisite, was clear that “no red lines can be drawn on the negotiation process”.

He said these issues will be discussed openly during Thursday’s meeting, including any concerns that could affect a later expanded informal meeting.