Roundup: Conference on Cyprus holds second session in Mont Pelerin of Switzerland

The Conference on Cyprus held its second session in Mont Pelerin of Switzerland on January 18-19 at the level of deputies and experts, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, said Thursday.

In a statement issued Thursday, the UN official said that the meetings were conducted in a positive spirit, but the participants agreed not to disclose details about their discussions, as the proceedings of the conference have not yet concluded.

According to the statement, the working group, established during the high-level meeting in Geneva on Jan. 12, successfully completed the mandate entrusted to it by the conference, namely identifying specific questions related to the issue of security and guarantees and the instruments needed to address them.

An international conference on Cyprus kicked off on Jan. 12 following three days of talks between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci at Geneva's UN headquarters.

Though no date was given, Eide said earlier this week that these final negotiations would take place "soon... maybe even in the course of this month."

Involving the foreign ministers of the three guarantor countries (Turkey, Greece and Britain), the conference is seen as an historic opportunity to broker a deal which could end decades of division.

The hope is to finally create a united Cyprus, thus putting to an end to over 40 years of division.

If a deal were to be reached in coming weeks, it would subsequently be put to a public vote to both sides of the island.

Cyprus has been divided in two since 1974 after Turkish troops occupied the northern part of the Mediterranean island in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time. Endit