President Ersin Tatar received Canada’s Ambassador to Athens Karine Asselin, who is accredited to the Greek Cypriot Administration as High Commissioner, and the British High Commissioner to Cyprus Irfan Siddiq respectively on Friday.

The meeting, which took place at the Presidential Palace, lasted for about 40 minutes.

Following his meeting with Asselin, President Tatar then received the British High Commissioner to Cyprus Irfan Siddiq.

President’s Special Representative Ergün Olgun and members of the negotiation team were also present at the meetings.

In a short statement to reporters after his meeting with President Ersin Tatar, the British High Commissioner to Cyprus Irfan Siddiq said that he was very happy to have the opportunity to meet with Mr Tatar to discuss a range of issues, particularly to explore possibilities for the resumption of negotiations following the elections in South Cyprus.

“Now I understand that the position of the two sides is quite different. We probably need to do a lot of work to bridge these gaps but I was encouraged by the discussion today that there are possibilities to do that and I think with creativity and goodwill we can find a way back to the negotiations table in a way that works for both sides”, he said.