Permanent Secretary of Cyprus` Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nicos Emiliou met on Friday in New York with UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, with whom he discussed developments in the ongoing negotiations aiming to solve the problem of Cyprus, divided since the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

An official press release issued here said that Emiliou had also met on Monday and discussed the Cyprus problem with Director of the Americas and Europe Division and Officer-in-Charge of the UN Department of Political Affairs Elizabeth Spehar, Deputy Chef de Cabinet and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kim Won-Soo and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Atul Khare.

Emiliou had represented the government at the 27th Conference of the Hellenic-American Leadership for Greece and Cyprus held in Washington from May 24 to 26.

Meanwhile the report of the UN Secretary General for the peacekeeping force of the United Nations in Cyprus (UNFICYP) that will be given late tonight to the members of the Security Council is not expected to contain any surprises.

According to diplomatic sources, the Secretariat has assured that the report will be kept at a technocratic level and the terminology concerning the restructuring of the force and the so-called isolation of Turkish Cypriots will be the same as the previous one.

According to the same source, the references concerning the Secretary General’s good offices in Cyprus will be very brief, noting that negotiations are ongoing and that the Secretary General will meet with Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on 7 July in Geneva.

The report is expected to be officially released on Tuesday or Wednesday.

UN-led negotiations are currently underway between President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader in an effort to reunify the island under a federal roof.

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