The National Council, the top advisory body to the President for the Cyprus issue, is convening on Friday at 10am local time under President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides.
According to government sources the members of the Council will be briefed, on the latest developments of the Cyprus issue and will discuss action in view of the President of the Republic’s trip to New York for the deliberations of the UN General Assembly.
President Christodoulides, is to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25.
According to sources from the Presidential Palace, the President of the Republic is expected to depart for New York on September 21 to attend the United Nations General Assembly, on the sidelines of which he will meet with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on the 23rd of September. He is scheduled to return home on September 29.
In August, UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, had contacted the sides and tested the waters r
egarding the possibility of a trilateral meeting between the UN Secretary-General, the President of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot leader, at the headquarters of the international organisation in New York.
According to information, the Office of the Secretary-General directly contacted the offices of President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, and that President Christodoulides immediately responded positively. Tatar had rejected the meeting. Press reports from the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus said Tatar departs for New York on September 22 where he will meet Guterres.
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.
Guterres appointed last January María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar 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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
