NICOSIA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities reaffirmed on Friday their commitment to what the state's common future should be, but they stopped short of agreeing on the resumption of reunification negotiations.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, representing the Greek community, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci talked for the first time on the substance of the Cyprus issue since their longstanding UN-led negotiations came to an unsuccessful end in July 2017.
"We reaffirmed that the intended solution is the bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. I explained and we discussed my proposal for a more functional solution through the decentralization of certain powers," Anastasiades said in a tweet after the meeting which lasted for more than two hours.
The two leaders decided to proceed with the opening on November 12 of two more crossing points between the government-controlled area and the part of the island occupied by Turkish troops in 1974, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time.
Anastasiades said they will meet again soon should technocrats conclude an agreement on establishing a joint mobile telephone system for the two parts, which currently use different codes.
Anastasiades told journalists that he and Akinci discussed privately about the common future of Cyprus. Asked about the prospects of resuming peace negotiations, Anastasiades said they would wait for the arrival of the UN secretary general's personal envoy on Cyprus, Jane Holl Lute and her possible suggestions for further peace negotiations.
In their separate statements, Anastasiades and Akinci said they reaffirmed that the future solution will be a two-zone, two-community federation.
They also reaffirmed their commitment to a solution framework submitted by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, prior to the collapse of a conference under his auspices in Switzerland.
The UN secretary general's personal envoy will arrive in Cyprus on November 1, for separate consultation with the two leaders before submitting a report to Guterres on the resumption of the negotiations.
