President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides is convening the National Council on Friday to coordinate strategy ahead of the upcoming visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Cyprus, scheduled for July 27-29. On Saturday, President Christodoulides will travel to Athens for high-level consultations with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to align the two countries' diplomatic approaches regarding the Cyprus issue and the potential for restarting peace negotiations.

During his visit, Guterres is scheduled to hold separate meetings with President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Tuesday, July 28, followed by a joint meeting and a press conference on Wednesday. Simultaneously, the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguín, is conducting high-level discussions in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, which are viewed as critical for determining the trajectory of the peace process. President Christodoulides has also noted the possibility of meeting with the European Commission's special envoy, Raffaele Fitto, and potentially Ms. Holguín before his engagement with the UN Secretary-General.

The initiative represents a renewed effort by the international community to break the long-standing deadlock in Cyprus. Diplomatic sources suggest that these efforts aim to establish the conditions necessary for a potential five-party conference later this year, as the parties seek to build upon recent diplomatic momentum to resume talks from where they were interrupted in 2017.