Holguin: Leaders continue efforts to reach agreements on the various trust-building initiatives that are on the table, as well as towards the start of substantive negotiations, the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Mara Angela Holguin, said in a written statement following her meeting, on Wednesday, with President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman. The meeting, which lasted about two hours, took place at the residence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Holguin mentioned in her written statement that the leaders shared their proposals to chart a way forward to start substantive negotiations. She added that the leaders reviewed the work on the list of the trust-building initiatives previously put on the table and noted some of the advances achieved between both sides. 'They will now continue efforts to reach agreements on the various trust-building initiatives that are on the table as well as towards the start of substantive negotiations,' she said.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Holguin noted that dialogue remains important at this stage of the process. 'When you are just preparing the field for a negotiation, it is always good to be together and to share views and to talk about many things, even if they are not something special as a result. But I think it was a good talk between them, between substance and between CBMs,' she said.
Asked by journalists whether there will be a new meeting of the leaders, Holguin replied, 'it depends on them. Because we need results on the CBMs. So I am waiting for something more.' Responding to a question on whether she was disappointed with the outcome of the meeting, she said, 'No, I am not disappointed. All the processes are dynamic. This is a little bit slower. But we are continuing.'
Asked whether the two leaders had responded to her call for progress, she said, 'I think maybe they are going to. Not yet.' Referring to specific advances, Holguin said with regards to the halloumi issue, that it 'is going to be in a month,' while 'the road tariff is going to be in three weeks,' adding that she did not want to be more precise at this stage because further work is needed.
Asked about a meeting in broader format and whether a '5+1' meeting next month should be ruled out, Holguin said that, for the time being, such a meeting is not expected to take place. 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 that was expected to take place before the end of 2025, is yet to be announced.
Maria Angela Holguin, 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 Holgun.