New Checkpoints Committee Agreed - Talks

President Demetris Christofias and Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu have decided to establish a committee to look into opening new checkpoints between the north and the south, said UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer after yesterday's meeting between the two leaders.

The leaders also had an exchange of views about their upcoming visit to New York on November 18th for the meeting with the Secretary-General, he said.

In addition to discussing checkpoints and the meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the leaders set their next meeting date for November 8th, and continued their discussions on the issue of property.

The agenda for the meeting with Ban Ki Moon has not yet been finalised, but "no doubt the Secretary-General will want to talk to the leaders, inter-alia, about the property question, but I am sure will want to talk more broadly about the whole process," said Downer.

"I believe it is important. We want there to be real momentum in this process. There obviously has been some slowing of the momentum in recent times, and the Secretary-General has taken the initiative of calling the leaders about that," he added.

"The Secretary-General will very much want to continue to help, not change the modus operandi of the United Nations.  That is not the objective here. He wants to meet with the leaders in the hope of re-injecting momentum into the process," said Downer.