Negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side, Menelaos Menelaou, and Mehmet Dana, representative of the Turkish Cypriot leader, will meet on Wednesday to prepare the December 11 meeting between the two leaders, namely the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) has learnt.
According to CNA information, Menelaou and Dana will hold their preparatory meeting on Wednesday morning, focusing on the joint meeting scheduled for Thursday between the two leaders and the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín, who has been on the island since last Thursday and has already had separate meetings with Christodoulides and Erhurman.
Earlier on December 11, the two leaders will visit the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).
Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Saturday that the EU Special Envoy for Cyprus, Johannes Hahn, will also be in Cyprus on the same day, describing this as an ‘auspicious coincidence,’ and highlighting the importance of the European dimension in efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue.
Letymbiotis expressed hope that the joint meeting of December 11 will serve as a decisive first step towards the resumption of negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
President Christodoulides has convened a National Council meeting for Friday, during which the political leadership will be briefed on the outcome of the latest contacts.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017, at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.