An expanded conference on the Cyprus issue is necessary to achieve meaningful progress and resume substantive negotiations, government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Friday.

Speaking during a briefing for journalists at the presidential palace, Letymbiotis said the format of an expanded meeting involving all relevant parties would be essential to moving the process forward.

“We believe that the convening of an expanded conference, precisely because of its composition, is necessary, will be essential for achieving progress and for the resumption of substantive negotiations,” he said.

He added that Cyprus was fully prepared to attend such a meeting “even next week” and reiterated that the government’s objective remained the resumption of negotiations from the point where they had previously stopped at Crans Montana in 2017.

“That is what we have been seeking from the very beginning,” he said. “The presentation of positions, arguments, opinions, so that the process can resume from the point where it was interrupted.”

The comments followed statements made earlier this week by President Nikos Christodoulides that a new initiative launched by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres could lead to significant developments on the Cyprus problem before the end of the year.

Christodoulides said the initiative began after Guterres met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and could eventually produce a concrete settlement framework.

The president also confirmed that UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin is expected to return to Cyprus in early June ahead of a possible expanded conference during the summer.

Asked to respond to statements from the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel rejecting a federal settlement and maintaining support for a two-state solution, Letymbiotis said there could be “no deviation” from the framework set out in international law and United Nations resolutions.

“It is self-evident for the entire international community that there cannot and will not be any deviation from what is determined by international law,” he stressed.

He affirmed that Cyprus “was, is and will remain” a member of the European Union after any settlement.

Letymbiotis added that the government would avoid public confrontations and continue working closely with the UN “to contribute positively to the appropriate climate” for renewed negotiations and a possible settlement.