NICOSIA, Nov. 16 -- United Nations Secretary-General's personal envoy on Cyprus, Jane Holl Lute, completed a new round of talks with the Cypriot community leaders on Saturday, ahead of a crucial joint meeting that the UN chief will have with them on Nov. 25.
At the meeting to be held in Berlin, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will decide whether the two sides are close enough, so as to convene a round of negotiations.
Lute met on Saturday morning with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci for 90 minutes and completed her mission with a similar night-time meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
Government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said after Lute departed from Anastasiades' official residence that it was a good meeting, but added that it would not be prudent to make any other statements given the fact that Guterres will meet the two leaders in nine days.
Guterres himself, in a report to the UN Security Council on Friday, said the prospects for new negotiations looked uncertain, but urged the two sides to utilize the meeting with him and his good offices mission for a result-oriented round of talks that will be different from any negotiations in the past.