The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Maria Angela Holguin, is expected to arrive in Cyprus late on Thursday night and is scheduled to meet President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides on Friday, the Cyprus News Agency has learnt.
According to sources, Holguin is to meet President Christodoulides at around 12 noon on Friday, while she is expected to have a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman at around 11.30am on Monday.
As the United Nations has already announced, Holguin is scheduled to hold a joint meeting with the two leaders on 9 November.
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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.