Eide: “This document certainly will not be a UN proposal”

President Mustafa Akıncı received the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, who is on the island  undertaking  preparatory work ahead of the Cyprus Conference.

Speaking to the media following the meeting, Eide highlighted developments in the last two weeks and “the important meeting” that the UN Secretary General had with the leaders in New York.

Eide stated that the leaders had agreed to reconvene the Conference on Cyprus and go back to Geneva with the ambition of solving all outstanding issues.

Stating that he has been in constant contact with almost all the participants, including the two sides, the guarantor countries, the European Union and the United Nations as an observer, Eide emphasised that there is serious determination to bring a successful conclusion.

The conference will start on 28 June, Eide said, with all parties planning for the conference to take a few weeks, but prepared for it to go on for as long as it takes, depending on the developments. Eide also stated that the works will go along a more practical and logistical route and, as the details are very important, all issues will be on the table and all issues will be discussed interdependently.

Touching on the common document issue which has been widely discussed in the media, Eide said, “This document will be based on the inputs that we had previously received in the last Mont Pèlerin meeting – from all sides – on security and guarantees, but it will also be based on the inputs that we’re getting now, and in the conversations I’ve been having with the guarantor countries and also with the EU.”

“It will be a compilation of positions that they have, ideas that they have, which we will try to structure and make into something that can be the basis for discussions, but it will not be setting out  a UN proposal” concluded Special Advisor Eide