There is more work on the issue of the economic aspect of the solution of the Cyprus problem than ever before, the Special Advisor of the UN SG on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide has stressed.

In statements after a meeting he had on Tuesday with President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades at the Presidential Palace, Eide said that “we are looking for a combination of different elements, public donations from donor countries, private sector investments and a series of guarantees, a series of different instruments that together could create the necessary funding for a settlement.”

Eide said the meeting between the leaders of the island’s two communities will be held on Saturday and the two negotiators will meet on Wednesday. He highlighted the joint visit of the two negotiators in Brussels last week, noting that “it was an historic visit. It has never happened before in this format, they were received at the highest possible level, including by President Junker and they had very solid, good discussions together, presenting the views not of either side but of the two sides jointly towards the European Commission”.

He added that the negotiators were reassured of the full commitment of the EU and the European Commission to the work that is taking place in Cyprus, not only as a political statement but on several technical issues, such as the preparations for the full implementation of acquis in the northern part of Cyprus.

Asked if there are any results on the funding of a possible solution, Eide said that a lot of people are involved in that and “there is more work on that than ever before.”

Asked if there is anything tangible on this issue, Eide said there is still outstanding issues on property and other parts of the deal which the experts need to have in order to calculate the full package.

“In Cyprus you talk about the cost of a settlement as if you are losing money. The reality is that all economic studies -warmly supported by international economists- support that a solution will create more wealth than a non solution over time”, he said, pointing out that a united island will create growth with more jobs, more prosperity and as a results “the solution will pay for itself”.

“The only issue is that you need an upfront sum of money in order to make some of the initial investments and this is money that will come into the island and not money leaving the island”, he added.

Asked if the reunified Cyprus will be the evolution of the Republic of Cyprus or not, Eide said that this has been discussed originally in the Joint Declaration of 11 of February 2014 and the Joint Declaration is the premise for all discussions. “That has been clear all the time”, he added.

Invited to comment on Akinci`s statement for a common presentation of the convergences between the two leaders, Eide said that it is up to the leaders to decide how they want to communicate about it. “If the leaders agree that they should talk more jointly about what they actually have achieved so far, I will support that but I will leave it to the leaders to make the judgment because they know their communities best”, he noted.

Eide said that he is in favour of transparency and openness, but on the other hand, as he pointed out, in negotiations there is a lot of complex inter-dependent issues which make sense only in the broad context.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed last May.