Cypriot leaders to meet on March 21
New Cypriot President Demetris Christofias is to meet Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for talks on March 21 on the future of the divided island, the United Nations said yesterday.
The UN spokesman Jose Diaz said: "The two leaders will meet at the UN compound in Nicosia at 10 am on Friday, 21 March in the presence of the chief of mission Michael Moller."
The meeting will be the first between the two sides since communist party leader Christofias was elected president of the Mediterranean island last month.
His victory, in replacing hardline Tassos Papadopolous, raised hopes of a new drive to end Cyprus's 34-year-old division, which has also been an obstacle to Turkey's efforts to gain membership of the European Union.
Papadopoulos had led Greek Cypriots in rejecting a UN reunification plan in a 2004 referendum and talks went nowhere during his term of office.
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