NICOSIA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary General’s special advisor on Cyprus expressed on Friday his optimism about the newly launched substantive negotiations aimed at reunifying the east Mediterranean island.
Alexander Downer, the former Australian Foreign Minister, however, stressed that there was no doubt that this would be a very difficult process after all.
“There has not been any successful conclusion to the Cyprus problem for many years, therefore it is not going to be a simple and easy process,” Downer told a press conference.
He described the atmosphere of the first substantive talks on Thursday between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as “good, friendly” and the negotiations are “productive.”
Cyprus President Demetris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met for more than four hours on the issues of governance and power-sharing.
Downer added that he was encouraged by what he had heard not only from separate discussions he had with the two leaders and other political party representatives in Cyprus, but also from his meetings he recently held with officials in Greece and Turkey.
UN envoy cautiously optimistic on Cyprus peace talks_English_Xinhua.