Holguin Cuellar to brief UN Secretary General her contacts on Cyprus problem: She met with President Christodoulides

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She will not stop “pushing” for dialogue until the last minute, UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, said on Monday after a meeting with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, as she announced that her mission was coming to an end and that she would brief Antonio Guterres about her contacts, in the coming days.

The meeting at the Presidential Palace lasted about 50 minutes.

This was the second meeting with President Christodoulides in her third round of contacts on the island since her appointment as personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General last January.

In her statements after the meeting, Holguin said that it was “a good meeting”, and noted that she was at the end of her mandate and was going to prepare a report and have meetings with the UN Secretary General in the coming days, while that she would return “and see how we can continue to push”.

“I’m going to push until the last day and I think this is what the people of Cyprus deserve, this is what the UN also wants and the Secretary-General especially”, she added.

Holguin said that her meetings in Cyprus were good, and that she had very long talks on various issues, “so I think the leaders have to hear the people”. The UNSG’s personal envoy had meetings with civil society groups, political parties, local government heads and representatives of business groups, during her visits to the island.

She said that people want common ground and that she would continue to push for this.

Asked whether she meant push for a joint meeting between herself and the two leaders, she said she would continue to push for that. “The dialogue is the only way to open roads, and to open possibilities is to have a dialogue”, she said, adding that the minimum people deserve is a dialogue between the two parties, “so, I will continue”.

As regards her report, the UNSG personal envoy said she would make sure about the impartiality of her views, and that she would put in writing what civil society, political parties, politicians, “but especially what the people of Cyprus want”.

After her meeting with President Christodoulides, Holguin had a meeting with the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Ersin Tatar.

Holguin is to depart from Cyprus on Monday evening, while on Tuesday she is to have a meeting in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister, George Gerapetritis.

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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Holguin in January as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.

CNA/EAN/EPH/2024
CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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