Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Colin Stewart, had a meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, on Tuesday afternoon at the Presidential Palace, as part of Stewart’s preparations for his briefing of the Security Council on July 14, his last before his retirement from the UN. As he stated after the meeting, he will also meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar next week for the same purpose.
Spokesperson Konstantinos Leymbiotis said in statements after the meeting that the duo “had a very constructive discussion, an exchange of views, in view of the upcoming multilateral conference.”
He explained that the meeting took place before Stewart’s departure for the United Nations, where he will brief the UN Security Council on the reports concerning good offices and the peacekeeping force.
He also noted that Stewart briefed Christodoulides on his meeting today with the EU Special Representative for Cyprus, Johannes Hahn. He added that Christodoulides reiterated, the importance of achieving progress and reaching a conclusion on the six issues agreed at the previous multilateral conference in Geneva.
For his part, Colin Stewart confirmed that he had “a very good meeting with Mr. Christodoulides”, adding that he would meet with Tatar next week. “these meetings are ahead of my trip to New York, where I’ll be briefing the Security Council, scheduled for the 14th of July”, he explained.
“This will be my last briefing to the Security Council, as I am retiring from the UN in August. So after the Security Council briefing, I will come back to Cyprus and pack up and leave”, Stewart noted, adding that he will meet with the two leaders again for a proper farewell before leaving.
Asked if the last meetings would be separate, he said he will see them separately for sure, adding he was open and willing to other arrangements, depending on how things stand at the time. He also said that Holguin “will be also having meetings with the leaders, we’ll coordinate closely with her”.
( Source: CNA)
