The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, expressed his readiness to participate in an expanded informal conference on the Cyprus issue even before the end of the year, in statements made on Saturday morning upon his arrival at the Annual General Meeting of the Cyprus Building Contractors Association in Nicosia.
Asked about the schedule of meetings ahead of the visit of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, to Cyprus, the President of the Republic said that on December 11, between 3:15 and 4 p.m., he will visit the workshop of the Committee on Missing Persons together with the Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, while between 4 and 5:30 p.m. there will be a joint meeting of the two leaders in the presence of Holguin, from where they will go together to the annual United Nations Christmas event.
“Beyond the procedures I just mentioned, the most important thing is that this meeting will lay the groundwork for the expanded informal conference, as we have all promised the United Nations Secretary-General, with the sole aim of resuming the talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana,” he noted.
“I want to publicly state today that I am ready for this meeting to take place. I conveyed this to the Turkish Cypriot leader during our meeting, and I will also convey it to Holguin. We have a meeting on December 6, and I am ready for this informal multilateral conference to take place before the end of the year,” the President stressed.
Asked whether the possibility of holding the conference in 2025 remains open, President Christodoulides reiterated the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side and expressed his hope that there will be a response from all sides.
“What is needed is political will. We know where we want to go, we know what we want to achieve. If there is political will, yes, we can even do it before the end of the year, and I have conveyed my readiness to do so,” he added in that regard.
Asked whether indications point to the existence of this political will, the President of the Republic said that he cannot speak and it is not right to speak on behalf of the other parties.
“I can speak on behalf of the Greek Cypriot side, and I repeat that I am ready even before the end of the year. I have the political will, I know where we want to go, we are prepared. Last night, for example, I had an internal meeting on this issue and we are fully prepared. I hope there will be a response from all parties involved and I am very happy for this meeting to take place with a positive outcome,” he stressed.
Asked about any positive outcomes yesterday’s meeting between the two negotiators, President Christodoulides said that the meeting was held the framework of preparations for the meeting on December 11.
“These meetings will continue so that we can have a positive outcome from the meeting on December 11. The major issue is the resumption of talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana. That is our clear goal,” he concluded.
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.
In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week. An informal meeting in broader format is expected later this year.
María Angela Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holguín.