UN secretary-general returns to Crans-Montana

The return of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Crans-Montana on Thursday marks the ninth day of talks at the Swiss resort, as participants in the Conference on Cyprus continue working towards reaching an agreement.

The conference starts at 12.00pm Cyprus time and according to the initial schedule, the morning session will last for about an hour. Subsequently, Guterres will meet separately with the two leaders, with each meeting scheduled to last for half an hour.

The secretary-general will meet first with the President Nicos Anastasiades and later on with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

At 2.15pm Cyprus time, Guterres will have a working lunch with the heads of the delegations attending the conference. From 16.30pm to 19.15pm, a number of bilateral meetings will take place between Guterres and representatives of the guarantors – the United Kingdom, Turkey and Greece. All meetings are scheduled to last for 30 minutes each.

At 9pm Cyprus time Guterres is to have a meeting with both leaders and will later attend a working dinner with the heads of delegations.

Guterres returns to Crans-Montana following the request of participants to help put an end to the deadlock.

Anastasiades submitted proposals on Wednesday aimed at overcoming the deadlock, and said that he expected the other side to show the required political will so that the talks move forward.

He also urged Cypriots “to ignore those who spread rumours of unacceptable concessions by our side, as well as the others, who purposely cultivate a climate of excessive optimism”.

 

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