The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Dervis Eroglu, meet here Wednesday as they resume their discussions in an effort to find a negotiated settlement to reunite the country.

This is the first meeting Christofias and Eroglu will have after October’s meeting in New York with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki moon.

Speaking after the New York meeting, Ban said the leaders have agreed that efforts are essential over the next two months to move to the end game of the negotiations for a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus issue.

He also said that the leaders assured him that they can finalize a deal, acknowledging that there is still work to be done and that by January, when they will meet again with the SG, Ban expects that the internal aspects of the Cyprus problem will have been resolved so that they can move to the multilateral conference shortly thereafter.

“This has been our fourth meeting together as we work to develop a comprehensive settlement for Cyprus. We last met in July in Geneva. At that meeting we agreed that the sides would intensify the talks in order to reach convergences on outstanding core issues in the negotiations”, said Ban.

In his remarks after the meeting, President Christofias said that during the next meeting of the two leaders with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January it will become evident if the talks for a Cyprus settlement are moving to the end game of the negotiations.

No great progress was achieved during the meetings to allow for a turning point at the efforts for a Cyprus settlement, he pointed out.

For this reason, he said, the UNSG suggested the two sides meet again with him in the middle of January, following another round of intensive negotiations. The aim, he added, is to bridge the gap which divides the two sides on fundamental aspects of the Cyprus problem, something which is difficult bearing in mind the differences, but not impossible.

He stressed that as long as the talks for a Cyprus settlement continue, we will show good will, will be ready for a solution that will be based on principles and is functional, serving the interests of the people of Cyprus, which has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The latest peace effort to find a negotiated settlement began in September 2008, under UN auspices.