The leaders of Cyprus' divided Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will hold their first meeting in more than a year Wednesday to seek ways of restarting stalled peace talks, according to AP. President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed in July 2006 to launch talks intended to pave the way to comprehensive negotiations on reunification, But the deal was never implemented. Both leaders voiced goodwill ahead of the meeting, to be held at the official residence in Nicosia of Michael Moller, the U.N. secretary general's special representative in Cyprus. «I am looking forward to this meeting ... during which I expect to discuss with the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community practical ways on how to achieve a breakthrough in the July 8 (2006) process,» Papadopoulos said Tuesday. The U.N.-brokered agreement called for meetings of technical committees to tackle everyday concerns _ such as crime and the environment _ and working groups to handle substantive issues including territorial and power-sharing arrangements. Talat said it was important that the two leaders were coming together.
