The head of the United Nations flew into Switzerland on Thursday to press Greek and Turkish Cypriots to seal a deal reuniting their east Mediterranean island, and the U.S. Vice President urged them to “seize this historic opportunity”.
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres flew into the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, where Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have been meeting. But Guterres is due to leave for the G20 summit on Friday morning, opening only a narrow window for what might be a “final push”.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rang both leaders to underscore U.S. support, the White House said in a statement.
“The Vice President urged President Anastasiades and Mr. Akinci to seize this historic opportunity to reunify the island and expressed his confidence in both leaders’ ability to secure a settlement that would reunify Cyprus as a bizonal, bicommunal federation,” the statement said.
Recent major gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean have refocused attempts to end the conflict, partly because the basin could hold sufficient to wean Europe off reliance on Russian gas, but also because of overlapping territorial claims.

source: reuters.com