Holguin, Christodoulides, Erhurman to hold new tripartite meeting

United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will hold a tripartite meeting next Wednesday, the UN’s office in Cyprus said on Friday.

It confirmed that the meeting will take place the day after Holguin holds separate meetings with Christodoulides and Erhurman, and that its purpose will be “to follow up on” the previous tripartite meeting, which was held last month.

Additionally, the office said that Holguin met the European Union’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, and that she will arrive in Cyprus on Monday.

Erhurman said on Monday that he hopes Holguin’s forthcoming visit to the island will “yield concrete results aimed at creating the atmosphere for a solution”, and stressed that the Turkish Cypriot side is “ready for the meeting”.

“In line with our results-oriented approach, our request is that the technical-level work be accelerated before that meeting and that Holguin’s visit yield concrete results aimed at creating the atmosphere for a solution,” he said.

It is expected that a fresh enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN, will take place in the weeks that follow Holguin’s visit.

Following the previous tripartite meeting, the sides released a joint meeting declaring that “the real aim is the solution of the Cyprus problem with political equality as described by the United Nations security council resolutions”.

The statement added that the meeting had included a “stocktaking discussion on previously agreed trust building initiatives”, as well as a discussion on new ideas.

“They agreed to concentrate on achieving new agreements as soon as possible, especially on the issue of the opening of new crossing points, the halloumi issue, and the construction of pipelines from the Mia Milia water treatment plant,” it said.

Christodoulides said after that meeting that it had been held in a “very good atmosphere”.

Later the same day, he said that the “reference to the United Nations resolutions is important”, and that he and Erhurman had “agreed to focus on specific issues”.

Next week’s meeting will come amid hope for progress on the matter of the crossing points which connect the island’s two sides.

Agreements had been struck last month regarding an increase of staff at the Ayios Dhometios crossing points and the installation of points at which insurance and MOT certificates for Turkish Cypriot vehicles will be able to be obtained at both the Astromeritis and Dherynia crossing points.

Erhurman said on Thursday that when those agreements are implemented, “there will be meaningful relief, but this alone is not the solution”.

“The real solution is to build a second vehicular crossing point in Nicosia,” he said, before adding that at present, “we are working on a map which targets four crossing points, starting from Mia Milia and extending through Athienou to Louroujina”.

“Opening a new crossing point is not economically beneficial for the Turkish Cypriots, but that does not concern me at all. What concerns me is that our people do not suffer hardship at the crossing points,” he said.