The UN has no intention of arbitrating or mediating in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, but will do everything it can to help the two sides build bridges, the UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer said on Monday, after a meeting in Nicosia with President Demetris Christofias.

Downer said he had not seen the President since the Greentree meeting between the UN Secretary General and the leaders of the two communities, “so it has been good to catch up with him again and to not just talk about the follow-up from Greentree but to start planning the couple of months ahead before we return to Greentree a bit beyond the middle of January.“

He added that he meets with President Christofias on “a fairly regular basis“ and noted that Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu is currently away and he is planning to meet with him at the weekend.

Asked if he was optimistic about this new phase of talks, Downer said “it is difficult, we have no illusions about that but we thought, as the Secretary General said, that good progress was made at Greentree and in the lead-up to Greentree.“