Genea meeting “is going ahead in person”, the UN has said on Monday.
Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that Jane Hall Lute, SG`s Special Envoy visited Cyprus on the 10thn and 11th of April, “as part of her consultations she is carrying out on behalf of the Secretary General with the two Cypriot leaders and the guarantor powers”.
“These consultations are in preparation for the informal 5+1 meeting that will be held in Geneva, that the SG is planning to convene from the 27-29 of April. The meeting is going ahead in person. We are very grateful to the Swiss authorities for their support in allowing us to host a meeting in premises. The Swiss are very helpful to us on hosting talks also in different issues”, he told the press Monday.
SG`s Envoy has already sent the program of the Geneva meeting to the leaders and as it became known it will kick off with a dinner to be hosted by Antonio Guterres for the leaders and their delegations on April 27. The informal meeting will take place the next day to be followed by bilateral consultations and then a fresh meeting.
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. The UN Secretary-General invited all parties involved to attend an informal five-plus-one meeting on the Cyprus issue in Geneva, Switzerland, from 27 to 29 April 2021.