Eide: Leaders willing to hold Conference once outstanding issues are resolved

In a statement following separate meetings with the leaders, UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said that the leaders were willing to set a date for the conference but they were not ready due to outstanding issues that needed to be solved and stated that he had a fruitful meeting with both President Akıncı and the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades, and that both leaders were willing to convene the Geneva conference in the very near future.

He mentioned that there are still outstanding issues that need to be solved, particularly on the modalities and the way the conference will be organized, but that, even though there is still some distance to be covered, there is a possibility to reach an agreement on these issues.

Eide stated that he hopes to reach an agreement on the outstanding issues by the end of the week.

The Special Adviser also said that although the conference to be held in Geneva will be carried out under the leadership of the UN, it would be aimless if the leaders did not decide what they need and what they want to do regarding the outstanding issues. He also stressed that he did not make any methodological recommendations to the leaders.