President of Republic of Cyprus and representative of self-proclaimed Northern Cyprus met under auspices of UN
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking unification with Greece, Euronews reports.
Divided Cyprus' rival leaders agreed to hold weekly meetings following talks on Wednesday, after UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged them to step up preparations for long-stalled reunification talks.
Wednesday's sit-down in Cyprus' UN-controlled buffer zone was the first time the pair have met face to face since Guterres' visit and was seen as an important step in laying the groundwork for a UN-led peace push.
A brief United Nations statement issued after the "constructive" discussions said the leaders had "agreed to intensify their meetings and to meet once a week and more frequently, as circumstances may require."
At the same time, however, he insisted he did not want more summits "without results," demanding "adequate preparation" to build confidence.
He did not offer a date for the proposed summit.
Guterres, who leaves office at the end of this year, was the first UN secretary-general to visit the Mediterranean island since 2010.
Cypriot government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said earlier on Wednesday that the discussions would centre on the substance of the Cyprus issue.
He also said opening new crossing points to improve movement across the buffer zone was a confidence-boosting measure under consideration.
