On Monday evening the much-awaited dinner between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will be hosted by the Deputy Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, at the Chief of Mission’s residence in the buffer zone.

Ahead of the dinner the political world seemed to be holding its breath as Foreign Minister, Nicos Christodoulides, called on the Turkish Cypriot side to refrain from making any statements, as this would limit chances of a positive outcome.

On Thursday evening President Nicos Anastasiades briefed party leaders and government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou underlined repeatedly that the dinner will be without agenda, but instead it would serve to a “useful exchange of views”.

Last week, Spehar met with both Anastasiades and Akinci in an effort to assure that everything would be in place for the dinner, which will be the first time the leaders of the two communities meet face to face since the collapse of Cyprus talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland in July last year.

Source: thegreekobserver