UN Secretary General’s personal envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, arrives in Cyprus on Sunday for contacts with both sides, where on Monday she will be received by the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, in the context of preparations for the informal meeting on Cyprus that will take place on July 16-17 in New York.
Holguin held a series of contacts in Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom, Brussels and Paris. Specifically, before returning to Cyprus for a second round of contacts in preparation for the New York meeting, she met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Istanbul, with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in Athens, with British Europe Minister Stephen Doughty in London, with President of the European Council, Antonio Costa and EU Special Envoy for Cyprus Johannes Hahn in Brussels. She also had contacts in Paris.
Furthermore, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Cyprus, Colin Stewart, who is retiring from the United Nations in August, will travel to New York to brief the UN Security Council for the last time as part of its regular consultations on Cyprus, where the UN Secretary General’s reports on the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) and his Good Offices Mission will be discussed. He is expected to brief the members of the Security Council on 14 July in closed-door consultations.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the political parties were briefed on Thursday by Christodoulides, about the preparations for the expanded meeting in New York city and expressed support to his efforts. They agreed that they will not accompany him but will be in constant contact and a videoconference will take place, Government Spokesperson, Konstantinos Letymbiotis told the press after the meeting of the National Council.
The NYC meeting will have the same format as the Geneva one last March. It will commence with a dinner on the 16th, will continue with bilateral contacts on the morning of 17 July and with a plenary session the same day. The Spokesperson stated once again that the aim is to have results towards the resumption of the peace talks.
( Source: CNA)
