New York: The goal of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, is to achieve results on the agreements by the end of July, Spokesperson for the UNSG, St©phane Dujarric said on Tuesday. Dujarric referred to Holguin’s contacts in Cyprus during a Press Briefing at UN Headquarters in New York. He noted that Holguin is in Cyprus, where she will stay until 31 May.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Dujarric highlighted Holguin’s separate meetings, on Saturday, with Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, and on Monday with Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar. He noted that in both meetings, Holguin heard the concerns of the leaders and reviewed the group of initiatives to build trust agreed by the parties during the last meetings in Geneva, which took place in March. The Personal Envoy aims to work with the parties to achieve results on the agreements by the end of July, when the next meeting with the Secretary-General will take place.
While in Cyprus, Holguin will also meet other actors on the Cyprus issue and plans to engage with the guarantor powers of Greece, Trkiye, and the United Kingdom. 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 Ant³nio Guterres announced that an informal meeting on Cyprus in a broader format will be held at the end of July, following a similar meeting in Geneva, on March 17-18. The two sides agreed to proceed with a number of initiatives, involving the opening of crossing points, the creation of a Technical Committee on Youth, and other initiatives in the buffer zone and throughout the island.
Guterres announced in early May the appointment of Mara Angela Holgun Cu©llar of Colombia as his Personal Envoy on Cyprus, who is tasked to reengage with the parties in order to work on next steps on the Cyprus issue and advise him. Holgun completed a previous assignment as Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General on Cyprus from January to July 2024. The European Commission designated Johannes Hahn, a former European Commissioner, as Special Envoy for Cyprus to contribute to the settlement process, in close cooperation with Holgun.