President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday pledged further investment in higher education, research and innovation as he attended the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Cyprus University of Technology’s (Tepak) new school of marine sciences in Larnaca.

Speaking at the ceremony, Christodoulides welcomed the completion of the financial, institutional and legislative procedures necessary for the project to proceed.

“The planning has progressed and today we are here for the groundbreaking of the project,” he said.

The president described the new school as an “important development for both Larnaca and higher education in Cyprus,” stressing that “it formed part of the government’s broader strategy to strengthen research and innovation and forge closer links between universities, society and the economy.”

He praised Tepak for its pioneering role in this regard.

Christodoulides recalled that the government had decided to proceed with the project in March 2025, noting that Larnaca’s history and identity were closely linked to the sea.

“And I believe it has special symbolism in the fact that it acquires such a university school that will focus precisely on marine sciences, technology and sustainable development,” he said.

The president also highlighted the growing need for specialised personnel to help protect Cyprus’ marine environment and address challenges such as climate change.

“The presence in Larnaca of the Cyprus institute for the sea and maritime affairs, as well as the possibility of cooperation with other research and production bodies, create the conditions for the development of a substantial ecosystem of knowledge and research around the sea,” he said.

Christodoulides also raised the possibility of developing student accommodation near the new school, noting that space was available in the area for the construction of student residences.

Such facilities, he said, could help meet the accommodation needs arising from the arrival of students, academics and researchers.

He added that the project could provide a boost to the local economy, encourage cooperation with businesses and other organisations, and enrich Larnaca’s social and cultural life.

“For our part, we will continue to invest in higher education, research and innovation,” Christodoulides said.

He stressed that Cyprus’ greatest advantage was its people and that the state’s most important investment was to provide them with the knowledge, skills and opportunities needed to succeed.

President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday said that “progress is possible” on the Cyprus problem, as he evaluated the meeting he held with the United Nations’ Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin earlier in the day.

“It was a very good meeting, during which the 19 points we submitted were discussed, along with other ideas on how to generate positive news, positive developments, which could lead to the resumption of talks from the point at which they were interrupted in the summer of 2017,” he said.

He added that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the next steps following his meeting with Holguin, before adding that it would be “really beneficial” if “more than one” meeting involving himself, Holguin, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman could be scheduled during Holguin’s current visit to the island.

“We now await her meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader on Monday to see how to proceed. I believe, and I reiterate, based on our discussion, that I am, quite justifiably, cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Asked about the matter of convergences reached in prior negotiation processes and the UN’s creation of a document recording them, he said that “I do not wish to disclose any substantive details”.

“We are at a critical juncture, involving critical processes. Let us take a note of the fact that, justifiably, based on what has been discussed, we are cautiously optimistic, and we are hoping that this optimism, this cautious optimism, will translate into concrete, positive results,” he said.

Holguin: Convergences document will be presented when negotiations begin

Holguin had previously said of the convergences document that “the United Nations has reviewed several documents that may prove useful when the parties decide to resume formal negotiations”.

Regarding their details, she stressed that “this compilation will be presented when negotiations begin” and will not be released beforehand.

This decision, she said, was made because the UN’s position is that “we will not introduce anything that could give rise to further debate and serve to trigger further setbacks”.

Of Friday’s meeting, she said that she remains optimistic over the prospect of an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem being held before the end of the year.

“Yes, I am optimistic … If there are some advances in the [confidence-building measures], in methodology, and in some substance, and if we can get this, we are going to have the 5+1,” she said, with the term “5+1” used to describe an enlarged meeting involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

Regarding Friday’s meeting and her planned meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, she said that “we are pushing and continue pushing”, and that “this is what the secretary-general asked of me, is until the last minute of his mandate, he wants to see if we can move forward on the Cyprus issue”.

Incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will leave office at the end of the year, with it still not yet clear who will replace him. It was Guterres who had first that enlarged meeting will only be achieved “after adequate progress” is achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

United Nations Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin said that she remains optimistic over the prospect of an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem being held before the end of the year, after she met President Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace.

“Yes, I am optimistic … If there are some advances in the [confidence-building measures], in methodology, and in some substance, and if we can get this, we are going to have the 5+1,” she said, with the term “5+1” used to describe an enlarged meeting involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

Regarding Friday’s meeting and her planned meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, she said that “we are pushing and continue pushing”, and that “this is what the secretary-general asked of me, is until the last minute of his mandate, he wants to see if we can move forward on the Cyprus issue”.

Incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will leave office at the end of the year, with it still not yet clear who will replace him. It was Guterres who had first that enlarged meeting will only be achieved “after adequate progress” is achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

Holguin on Friday made no reference to efforts to choose Guterres’ successor, focusing instead on the content of her meeting with Christodoulides, which she described as “good”, before saying that she had wished to “listen from Christodoulides about his meetings with Tufan”, which have been taking place on a weekly basis since the summer.

Of those weekly meetings of Cyprus’ two leaders, she said that “I think it has been very good that they have these kinds of meetings together and I would still hope to see if we can [achieve] something”.

“We are going to have a trilateral meeting on November 9 and … I am here, I am an optimist, and I hope we can get something next week,” she said.

Leaders took vow of silence on Cyprus problem after Tuesday

The two leaders most recently met on Tuesday, and said after that meeting that both he and Erhurman had “agreed not to make further statements regarding specific issues” related to the Cyprus problem until Holguin’s arrival at the earliest.

Both men had also met the bicommunal technical committees on cultural heritage and on youth, as well as the civil society steering committee, following their one-on-one meeting.

Of those meetings, Christodoulides said that they were “constructive” and that “various views and suggestions were put forward” by committee members.

He added that those suggestions will be discussed by himself and Erhurman going forward.

Christodoulides insists Varosha proposal is ‘mutually beneficial’

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Christodoulides had stressed that his proposal to open and repopulate the fenced-off area of Varosha under the United Nations’ administration and open the port of Famagusta under the European Union’s control is “mutually beneficial”.

“I believe this is a mutually beneficial proposal. It creates a positive situation for both sides and serves as a practical test of whether we are truly committed to moving forward, specifically by taking bold confidence-building measures which also send a strong message to society as a whole,” he said.

Erhurman had said last week that he had rejected the proposal, lamenting that it fell short of an entry into force of the European Union’s direct trade regulation.

“Is this the entry into force of the direct trade regulation? No, it is not the entry into force of the regulation, but since [the port] would be under EU control, direct trade would begin,” he said.

As such, he said, the proposal was unbalanced.

The direct trade regulation is a pending EU regulation which would allow Turkish Cypriot goods, as certified by the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce, to be exported directly into Europe via the Green Line, and given preferential treatment inside the European single market as European goods.

It was proposed in July 2004, three months after the rejection of the Annan plan to reunify Cyprus by the Greek Cypriot side in a referendum, and shortly after the Republic of Cyprus’ accession to the EU.

Menelaou had cited progress on crossing points

Previously, Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou had said that a dispute over the routing of the planned transit road between Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia “has been overcome”.

He said that the outstanding dispute now remains over the question of whether a planned crossing point to connect Louroujina, the southernmost Turkish Cypriot village, with nearby Lymbia, will open at the same time.

The Turkish Cypriot side’s position is that the road between Athienou and Aglandjia constitutes two crossing points, one in Athienou and one in Aglandjia, and that they are part of a package of four alongside plans for a crossing point in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia, and one in Louroujina.

However, the Greek Cypriot side treats the road between Athienou and Aglandjia as one crossing point, counterweighted by the Mia Milia crossing point, and is therefore of the view that the Louroujina crossing point should only be opened if a second transit road, through the Turkish Cypriot Kokkina exclave in the Tillyria region, also be opened.

UN envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin is currently in Cyprus and will be meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday at 12.30pm.

Holguin will also be meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Monday, and hold a tripartite meeting with both Christodoulides and Erhurman on November 9.

On Tuesday, Christodoulides said both he and Erhurman had agreed to make “no further statements” on matters of substance related to the Cyprus problem ahead of Holguin’s trip.