In the end there were no great surprises from the visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Cyprus. He neither announced a date for a new 5+1 conference, nor anything to suggest the Cyprus process would be moving in a different direction.

Yet, the visit was important for a number of reasons, not only because it was the first visit by a UN chief in 16 years, but because it showed the UN was ready to make a serious last-ditch effort during Guterres’ term, which ends in December.

Guterres said both sides in Cyprus were on board for a new conference as were the three guarantor powers, in essence meaning Turkey. This is a marked shift by Ankara but to what end is as yet unclear. For almost ten years it has insisted a two-state solution was the only way forward for talks after the failure at Crans-Montana in July 2017.

The secretary-general is to be lauded for the way he played this one. His visit was announced only two weeks ago putting paid to a summer of speculation and grandstanding about possibly meeting the leaders during the UN General Assembly in New York in September. Cyprus would not be on his agenda that week he made clear.

His low-level approach also put paid to the inevitable fanfare and rhetoric that would have preceded an invitation to the two leaders to see him elsewhere, which is usually followed by weeks where the climate is spoiled by red lines being laid out in advance.

Guterres came, he got the leaders into the same room, somehow got Turkey on board and then set the terms for a new 5+1. These are: preparation on confidence-building, preparation on methodology and preparation on substance. He does not want to have more 5+1 meetings without results.

The UNSG did not say what he considers the benchmarks for adequate preparations – what he needs to see in order to call a conference at all. However, after the meeting, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman alluded to having seen a roadmap, which will no doubt be leaked in the coming days.

Also, prior to Guterres’ visit, amid the speculation, there were concerns that certain issues might be left open to interpretation by one side or the other.

President Nicos Christodoulides, in his comments after the meeting, suggested the negotiating framework would be that which was “interrupted” at Crans-Montana, which has been the long-standing demand of the Greek Cypriot side since 2017.

The president also suggested the confidence building measures, which were not spelled out publicly, were not necessarily a prerequisite for the 5+1. This was interesting considering Guterres specifically included them in his top three asks and has been unsuccessfully pushing for more crossing points to open. Erhurman, by contrast, placed great importance on confidence-building in his comments.

Although Guterres set no deadline for a new 5+1, by virtue of his own departure from the UN in December, he has in reality initiated a countdown. His visit brought, if not progress, then at least a measure of momentum. What comes of this opportunity remains to be seen.