UN Summit in Geneva July 7th

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has confirmed a joint meeting with President Demetris Christofias and Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva on July 7th, said a UN spokesman.

This is the third meeting abroad between the current leaders and the UNSG since one in New York on 18 November 2010 and in Geneva on 26 January 2011.

Ban Ki Moon stressed with both leaders the need to accelerate their progress in order to achieve a mutually acceptable and lasting settlement on Cyprus as soon as possible, said the spokesman.  He expects the leaders "to take advantage of this meeting, and the period leading up to it, to work jointly and concretely toward reaching that objective".  

The next face-to-face meeting in reunification talks between the leaders will be on June 1st at 10am.

The last tri-lateral talks were held on January 26th this year, after which the leaders promised to intensify reunification negotiations. Since then, some progress has been made on internal security on matters like a federal police force and guideliness for international treaties. The major stumbling blocks of governance and property still remain unresolved, however.