Turkish Cypriot President, Greek Cypriot Leader To Meet On Friday

LEFKOSA - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat and leader of the Greek Cypriot administration Dimitris Christofias are set to meet Friday for the first time after Christofias won election earlier in March.
The meeting will take place at UN envoy Michael Moeller`s residence in the buffer zone.
Sources said the Turkish Cypriot side "kept its expectations high in a bid to receive signals about Greek Cypriots` proposals," and to see whether the change in the Greek Cypriot leadership meant "a policy shift."
According to the Greek Cypriot press media, the Greek Cypriot side would come to table with negotiations on what is publicly known as "the July 8th process," an initiative launched by Ibrahim Gambari, UN`s former undersecretary general for political affairs, to hold talks to ease everyday hardships that Turkish and Greek Cypriot peoples face on the island.
Talat-Christofias meeting is also expected to handle the opening of the Lokmaci Gate and sources said the two sides would "most probably" agree on the issue and announce the opening after the meeting.
(YMB-MS)