The current status quo cannot be a solution to the Cyprus issue, President Christodoulides said at the start of his meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peace Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, at the Presidential Palace in Lefkosia.

For her part, the UN official said she looked forward to the expanded meeting in March and conveyed the UN Secretary General‘s commitment to help both sides move forward.

Welcoming Ms. Di Carlo, President Christodoulides said that he looked forward to the discussions, expressing his readiness to convey specific proposals to the UN official on the way forward, and especially for a successful outcome when the Secretary-General decides to convene the expanded meeting.

“We are ready to participate. For us the current status quo cannot be a solution to the Cyprus problem and as time goes by the situation is getting worse and worse,” he said.

He added that there are no frozen conflicts in the region and reiterated his willingness to exchange views with DiCarlo on how to resume negotiations “from where they left off in Crans Montana” and to put forward “very concrete proposals on the way forward.”

For her part, the UN Deputy Secretary-General said she was very happy to be back in Cyprus and that she looked forward to the expanded meeting in March.

“The Secretary-General is committed to helping the sides move forward, I am very pleased that there will be this meeting,” she said, adding that the dates of the meeting will be announced soon.

Committed by UN Secretary-General

In statements to the press after the meeting with President Christodoulides, Ms. DiCarlo said she “had a very constructive conversation with the Greek Cypriot leader Mr. Christodoulides” where the two “discussed preparations for the upcoming meeting in Geneva next month.”

“I assured him of the SG’s strong commitment to work with the parties on this issue to move forward,” he added.

DiCarlo also said she met earlier Monday with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and would also meet with a group of women “who are very active in the peace process and have been active for years.”

He also recalled that later tonight he will have “dinner with negotiators from both sides.”

March 17-18 in Geneva

Meanwhile, the informal expanded meeting may take place on March 17-18 in Geneva, Ersin Tatar said in remarks after his hour-and-a-half meeting with UN Deputy Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, who he added “asked for our approval”. “We told her that we could participate in such a meeting on that date. And of course before then there will be preparations,” he said.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said it was his own proposal for a meeting in the presence of the two sides, two guarantor countries Turkey-Greece and the United Nations, saying the presence of the United Kingdom also came up later, but at a low level.