The preparatory work with the UN to create the conditions for a successful enlarged meeting began on Friday, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday evening.
This work will carry on throughout August with the United Nations on a technocratic level, he added.
Asked what steps need to be taken to hold the informal five-party conference, Christodoulides said, “yesterday, I had an excellent meeting with [EU enovy for Cyprus Raffaelo] Fitto, with whom I spoke again in the evening regarding everything that had been discussed. Since yesterday, we started at a technical level with the UN, and I imagine they have also started with all parties the preparatory work”.
He said the UN has already hired an academic constitutional expert who was involved in the previous negotiation process.
Regarding the convergences, the president emphasised “it is very positive that the Secretary-General referred to the convergences for the first time.”
Christodoulides has convened a meeting of the National Council on Monday to brief party leaders.
Speaking about his meeting on Friday with Fitto, he said “the role of the EU does not concern the content of the solution; it can provide a safety valve on many issues where there are different opinions, and secondly, EU-Turkey relations, which we discussed with Mr Fitto very specifically, expressing readiness and conveying some very specific proposals and recommendations”.
He added, “we are doing everything we can to take advantage of the critical moment in the Cyprus issue”.
After visiting Cyprus this week, UNSG Antonio Guterres, whose term is nearing its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format is certain conditions were met but gave no timeline.
He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers.
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