Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci are to meet on Friday at the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia.

The meeting will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, and is to be hosted by the Deputy Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Ms. Elizabeth Spehar, at the Chief of Mission Residence in the United Nations Protected Area, this morning.

As clarified by government spokesman, Prodromos Prodromou, the meeting is “preliminary” and “falls outside the framework of the negotiations”.

Still, however, Anastasiades expects it to function as a springboard “towards the resumption of the negotiations, which is the fundamental objective at this stage of the peace effort”, added Prodromou.

How does the UN envoy regard the present situation?

Spehar sees it as a significant step with regard to keep talks going believing their meeting is an “encouraging” sign since there is potential for the continuation of negotiations between the two sides (over the Cyprus issue).

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