The UNSG’s personal envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar is an extremely seasoned and experienced diplomat, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stéphane Dujarric has said, adding that he has no doubt that she will continue on her mandate enthusiastically.

Dujarric was replying to questions yesterday during a regular briefing of the foreign press, a Press and Information Office (PIO) press release says.

“Replying to a comment by OMEGA correspondent Michalis Ignatiou that as he understands Holguin returned from her tour to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey and asked if the UN has anything about the results of this mission, if she will return to the island or whether she is  disappointed and decided not to go back, the Spokesperson replied that the Secretary-General’s envoy is an extremely seasoned and experienced diplomat. I have no doubt that she will continue on her mandate enthusiastically”, the press release adds.

“I don’t know if she’s back here in New York or when she’s had a chance to brief the Secretary-General” he added.

Meanwhile, asked about the meeting between the Foreign Minister of Greece and the UN Secretary-General, the Spokesperson said “first of all, it was nice that it happened on the day that we processed Greece’s full payment of its dues” adding that they did discuss the bilateral relations between Greece and the United Nations.

“They did discuss the situation in Cyprus, as well as developments in the eastern Mediterranean and the broader region,” he said.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.