Determined to resolve the Cyprus issue, António Guterres is making preparations to travel to Cyprus during the five months remaining in his term.

The UN Secretary-General wants to give his initiative full momentum. And to achieve this, he is coming to Nicosia on July 27.

To be precise, the Secretary-General will arrive on the evening of the 27th, coming from Jordan. This will be preceded by a tour of the Middle East, with visits to Syria and, most likely, Lebanon.

SEE ALSO: The United Nations’ official announcement regarding Guterres’ visit to Cyprus, featuring Christodoulides and Erciyuman

The following day, Tuesday the 28th, the UN Secretary-General will hold separate meetings with the two leaders. First with President Christodoulides and then with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman in occupied Nicosia.

Depending on the schedule, meetings will be held with members of the bicommunal committees, as well as with civil society representatives.

Guterres’s visit will culminate on Wednesday, July 29. At the old Nicosia Airport, where the Cyprus talks are taking place, preparations are already underway to host the trilateral meeting between the Secretary-General and the leaders of the two communities. This will be followed by joint statements announcing the date of the informal five-party meeting.

A Surprise Move by Olgin

Antonio Guterres’s surprise move upends the original plan, which called for his special envoy, María Olguín, to arrive in Nicosia within the next 24 hours.

The Colombian official will accompany the Secretary-General on his trip, as will the entire United Nations team working on the Cyprus issue, thereby sending a strong message.

READ ALSO: Antonio Guterres Arrives in Nicosia with the Entire UN Cyprus Team

“UN Secretary-General Guterres will be accompanied by Rosemary DiCarlo, Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacekeeping Affairs of the United Nations, and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.”

In coordination with the EU and the UN

Guterres’ move confirms his full coordination with the European Union, which, for its part, has been engaged in continuous efforts to elevate the Cyprus issue, most recently with the appointment of Italian Raffaele Fito as Special Envoy for Cyprus.

It should be noted that the announcement regarding the Executive Vice President of the Commission came alongside the announcement of a phone call from Ursula von der Leyen to the UN Secretary-General regarding the Cyprus issue.

The President had foreshadowed this

The government remained tight-lipped about the reports.

Sources from the President’s Office acknowledged that there had been a sounding-out regarding Guterres’s visit, but made it clear that they did not wish to issue any announcements, and that it would be better for the United Nations to do so.

In essence, however, the President of the Republic himself announced the visit yesterday.

“The announcements will be made by those who are the key players. So please allow us to let them make the announcements.”

READ ALSO: What Antonio Guterres Will Do in Nicosia: The UN Secretary-General’s Meeting Agenda and Objectives

16 years later

It has been 16 years since the last visit by a UN Secretary-General to Cyprus—that of South Korean Ban Ki-moon, during the administration of Demetris Christofias.

This was preceded by the very significant visit— in fact, on two occasions, by Kofi Annan, which was linked to his plan for a solution to the Cyprus problem and the most serious initiative to date by the international organization.

Watch Giorgos Georgiadis’s report along with the UN’s official announcements regarding Guterres’s visit to Cyprus: