President Nikos Christodoulides will convene the National Council on Tuesday to brief its members on his contacts in New York in the context of the 78th UN National Assembly.
Victoras Papadopoulos, Director of the President’s Press Office told the Cyprus News Agency that the national council will convene at 5.30pm local time.
During the session, the president is expected to brief the national council on his activities in New York and his meeting with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
President Nikos Christodoulides’ government engaged in a series of efforts towards reviving UN-led talks, which have been stagnant since the last inconclusive round held in 2017 in the Swiss resort in Crans Montana.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar during his meeting with the UNSG rejected the appointment of a UN envoy for Cyprus and also rejected participating in a joint meeting with Guterres and Christodoulides.
Negotiations can only resume, the Turkish Cypriot leader said, “with the acceptance of the equal sovereignNational Council status of the Turkish Cypriot people”.
However, he listed a number of areas of potential cooperation between the parties, in irregular migration, exploration of natural resources, renewable energy, interconnection of energy to Europe via Turkey, and clearing of mines, saying that whether or not this offer was accepted, would be “a test of [UN and Christodoulides’] sincerity.”