Leaders and representatives of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot political parties participating in the bi-communal dialogue under the auspices of the Slovak Embassy to South Cyprus met on Tuesday at the Ledra Palace Hotel.

They held a discussion on the current state of the Cyprus issue with Mr. Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and Deputy Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus.

Mr. Stewart briefed the representatives of political parties on the development of current issues with a special emphasis on the situation in Pile in the context of the understanding reached, the implementation of which has the potential to become an important confidence-building measure.

Realizing the importance of opening more crossing points, the political parties asked Mr. Stewart to mediate a meeting with the leadership of the relevant Technical Committee with the aim of joint visits to locations where the establishment of new crossing points appears to be necessary, beneficial and mutually acceptable.

Other confidence building measures were mentioned by the political parties, which could be further discussed with the leadership of other competent technical committees, mainly for the environment and the cultural heritage.

The participating political parties expressed their expectations for the appointment of a UN Secretary General Envoy as a first step forward.

The next meeting of the leaders and the representatives of the political parties will be held on Wednesday, 29 November 2023 with the Greek Cypriot Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) as hosting party.