Letymbiotis: Leaders’ Meeting Paves the Way for New Meeting with Guterres

According to the Philenews news website, Letymbiotis said at a press conference today that the goal of the Greek Cypriot side was to establish the preconditions required for an expanded meeting and to resume negotiations from where they left off at Crans-Montana in 2017, despite the differences of opinion.

Letymbiotis said yesterday’s meeting had opened the way for the next concrete step on the Cyprus problem: a new joint meeting with Guterres to discuss both the methodology and the substance of the issue.

Describing this as the most important political aspect of yesterday’s meeting, Letymbiotis said the effort required continuity, substantive content and a strong outlook.

He noted that this outlook was not merely an expectation of the Greek Cypriot side, but had been explicitly stated in the UN’s joint statement issued following yesterday’s meeting.

Emphasising the importance of the leaders’ meeting not being limited solely to Confidence-Building Measures, Letymbiotis said that methodology and the substance of the Cyprus problem had also been discussed. He recalled that President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides had said some issues had seen positive steps forward, while differences of opinion remained on others.

Letymbiotis said what mattered was that discussions on these three key areas should continue both in the run-up to and during the meeting attended by the Secretary-General.

Pointing out that the agreements reached at the meeting were significant in their own right, Letymbiotis said that the opening of two new crossing points for the first time since 2018, along with initiatives on education, cultural heritage, the environment and crisis management, represented concrete steps towards progress.

He also said that some of these issues were included in the 19 proposals mentioned by Christodoulides.

Stating that progress was not an automatic process but something built through perseverance, initiative and a determined focus on the goal, Letymbiotis said significant differences of opinion and obstacles remained. He stressed that they did not underestimate these challenges and were fully aware of the difficulties, while insisting on maintaining their vision through active diplomacy.

Letymbiotis said they were not seeking to hold meetings merely to keep the process alive, but were pursuing a process that would deliver results, create a positive outlook and bring the sides one step closer to the resumption of meaningful negotiations.

He said yesterday’s meeting between the leaders had reaffirmed precisely this approach, adding that persistent diplomatic efforts could produce results.