Greek Foreign Minister, George Gerapetritis, has said that a new meeting in a broader format on the Cyprus issue will take place when conditions mature.
He was speaking after a meeting he had on Wednesday in New York with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN Headquarters.
The meeting lasted approximately one hour and focused on the Cyprus issue, Syria, the Palestinian question, and Libya.
In his statement after the meeting, Gerapetritis said that the Cyprus issue was the central topic, referring to the contacts of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, María Angela Holguín, in Cyprus and to the confidence building measures. He stressed that “when conditions mature and there is tangible progress on the issues we are currently dealing with, which relate to confidence building measures, then there will be a new meeting in a broader format.”
He underlined that the Cyprus issue is “very high on the Secretary-General’s agenda” and noted that it is a matter that “undermines international legal order and it is important for a solution to be found for the benefit of Cyprus, but also for international security”.
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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week.
María Angela Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holguín.