Eide: “We made a good start”

At a press conference with the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Conference on Cyprus Jeffrey Feltman, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said that he saw all attendees were hopeful, and made a fresh, constructive start to talks.

Giving information about the format of the conference, Eide noted that while the issue of “Security and Guarantees” was being discussed at table one, in which all attendees will participate, the other outstanding issues will be discussed at the second table by the negotiators.

Eide also said that the conference will continue along these two parallel levels, as Guterres said. He added that the issue of “Security and Guarantees” is important, but that there are also some uncompromising factors in other issues.

Responding to a question on the length of the conference, Eide said that the parties are determined to stay here until the problem is solved and that the UN is ready to support the process as long as the parties need it.

Eide said that the conference had technical plans to run until 7^th July, but that this program could be extended if necessary.

In response to another question regarding the common document, Eide said “the document has not been withdrawn. That’s a wrong expression. We simply concluded that it’s not common. We presented it, it exists, and it is not common. So we are not using it as a common platform.”

“However, the positions that were captured in the document from Mont Pelerin in January and the ideas that had informed the drafting of the document in consultation with all parties, remained available to inform the positions of the sides” he added.