00:00In a visit to the divided island of Cyprus, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced his intention to convene fresh
00:08talks on resolving the decades long division of Cyprus.
00:11Guterres did not set a specific date for the talks and said that sufficient preparation must take place beforehand.
00:18The announcement came after an extra-lateral meeting between Guterres, the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Khristov Livis,
00:25and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erkinov.
00:27Under the 5 plus 1 format, the two Cypriots sides would be joined by current powers, Greece, Turkey, and the
00:35United Kingdom, as well as the United Nations.
00:37Based on our discussions on the way forward, I decided that I would convene another 5 plus 1 meeting after
00:48adequate preparations on confidence building, methodology, and substance, taking into account the convergencies already achieved.
00:58The Secretary General said there is a consensus among the two sides and the guarant of powers regarding the new
01:05meeting.
01:05He also clarified that there is no meeting scheduled on the Cyprus issue during the high-level week of the
01:12UN General Assembly in September.
01:14I don't want to have more 5 plus 1 meetings without results. I want a successful 5 plus 1 meeting
01:22in order to pave the way for a solution to be achieved.
01:27Substantive talks on the Cyprus issue remained at a standstill following the collapse of the process in Kran-Montana, Switzerland,
01:34in 2017.
01:36Nikos Khristov Livis welcomed Guterres' commitment and emphasized that the new effort must build on the negotiating achievements, the points
01:44of convergence and everything that had been agreed upon up to Kran-Montana.
01:49We have this decision in relation to the constitutional agreement of the negotiations. We don't start from 0. The constitutional
01:59agreement is valid. It is very important.
02:02And, if you want, this is a positive, something that is not present in relation to the role that is
02:11able to defend the EU.
02:13President Christodoulidis said preparation would begin immediately with Guterres personal
02:19envoy Maria Angela Olgin and the European Union.
02:22He announced that he will meet on Friday in Icosia with the European Union Special Envoy
02:27for Cyprus, Rafaela Fito.
02:29On his part, Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erkerman, described Guterres' visit as positive.
02:35He welcomed the emphasis on confidence-building measures and a new methodology.
02:40He said he was now more hopeful, arguing that any renewed process must focus on achieving
02:46results rather than holding talks for their own sake.
