Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis will attend a working dinner on the Cyprus issue at 19:00 local time on Wednesday (Greece, 02:00 on Thursday), at the UN headquarters in New York.

The working dinner is hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the head of delegations at the informal expanded meeting on Cyprus: Cyprus Republic President Nikos Christodoulides; Greek FM Gerapetritis; UK Deputy Minister for Europe, North America and UK Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty; Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan; and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

On Thursday, July 17, expanded bilateral consultations between the UN Secretary-General and the five parties of the informal expanded meeting will start at 09:00 (Greece, 16:00), in a 1+1 format. 

The sessions of the meeting's plenary on the Cyprus issue will begin at 11:30 am (Greece, 18:30), on the 27th floor of the Secretariat building, in a 1+5 format.

At 13:30 (Greece, 20:30), the Secretary-General will host a working lunch for the heads of the delegations, and the concluding meeting will take place at 15:15 (Greece, 22:15).

UN Security Council briefing

On Monday, July 14, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Cyprus, Colin Stewart, briefed the UN Security Council member states about the situation in Cyprus in a closed-door meeting. 

According to information of the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), Stewart's briefing was based on the Secretary-General's reports on Good Services and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). It was the last briefing of the UN Security Council by Stewart, as he is expected to retire and leave the island in August.

Diplomatic sources at the United Nations said that in wrapping up his term, Stewart shared personal thoughts on his experience as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Cyprus. The same sources cited Stewart as talking about the deep mistrust and lack of confidence that obstructs any agreement between the two sides. What Stewart believed was the greatest problem was the different narrative between the two sides, as both of them speak about injustices, the sources said.

The same diplomatic sources noted that during the meeting, the Greek representation - following the country's established stance on the issue - questioned Stewart on his presentation of events and of the reality on the island.

According to ANA-MPA information, the UN Security Council member states have high expectations for the high-level meeting in New York and underline that building confidence is important for future progress.