BOTH the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides are making sincere efforts to find convergence on the issue of governance, President Demetris Christofias said yesterday.
Meanwhile the Cyprus News Agency, citing diplomatic sources, reported yesterday that United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon would be arriving in Cyprus on Sunday in a bid to boost the talks between the two sides.
The official announcement for the visit is not expected to be made before Wednesday, when the second round of intensified talks ends, CNA said.
Earlier yesterday, UN special envoy Alexander Downer said no final decision had been made about the visit.
Christofias, speaking after the first meeting in the second round of intensified talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, said a “sincere effort is being applied by both sides to achieve new convergence on this issue. It is not an easy task but I can say it is not in vain.”
He added: “Tomorrow (today) we will continue.”
The two leaders will meet for three consecutive days and discuss governance and power-sharing, economy and EU affairs.
Talat and Christofias spent most of the day yesterday in a tete-a-tete session during which they had a significant exchange of ideas, United Nations special envoy Alexander Downer said after the eight-hour meeting.
“They focused predominantly on governance and power-sharing issues,” the UN official added. “Tomorrow they will be meeting again in plenary session and they will be discussing these ideas more broadly with a plenary group.”
Back at the presidential palace Christofias declined to comment on whether Talat had given any ground on the positions he had submitted on governance and power-sharing, universally rejected by the Greek Cypriot side.
“If we start talking about this, I think we will create bigger problems for ourselves and Mr Talat,” Christofias said.
What is needed is patience and persistence, the president said.
“And we are determined to continue, insisting on achieving greater convergence and carry on with the rest of the issues,” Christofias said.
“The aim is not to terminate the talks. The aim should be for the talks to succeed and move close to a solution of the Cyprus problem,” Christofias said.
The intensified talks kicked off two weeks ago with the first three-day round.
In the week between the two rounds the two leaders’ aides continued discussions on governance and power-sharing.
