CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland, July 7 (Xinhua) -- A new round of peace efforts aiming to unify Cyprus ended here in the early hours of Friday without reaching an expected framework agreement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the press early Friday morning that he was disappointed that the intensive diplomatic efforts over the last eight days in the Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana had not yielded an essential result for the future of the Mediterranean island. ' "I am deeply sorry to inform you that, despite the very strong commitment and the engagement of all the delegations and the different parties, the Conference on Cyprus was closed without an agreement being reached," he told reporters after long hours of intensive meetings.
Guterres arrived on Thursday morning in Crans-Montana for the second time within one week to push forward the peace talks on Cyprus.
During the past 14 hours he chaired a session of the conference, held a series of bilateral meetings and a working dinner which went into the early hours of Friday.
"Unfortunately, as I said, an agreement was not possible and the conference was closed without the possibility to bring a solution to this dramatically long-lasting problem," he said.
In response to a question, the UN chief said it was still possible that "other initiatives" could yield results for the long-standing confrontation between the two ethnic communities of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
"The United Nations role is the role of a facilitator and we will be always be at the disposal of the parties willing to come to an agreement, if that would be the case," he noted.
The new round of the Conference on Cyprus under the auspices of the United Nations started on June 28, which UN official described as "a historic opportunity" and a "best chance" for solving the Cyprus problem.
Participants of the conference include Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, as well as foreign ministers and senior representatives from Turkey, Greece, Britain and the European Union.
Cyprus was divided when Turkey mounted a military operation in 1974, in response to a Greek-inspired coup, resulting in the occupation of 37 percent of the island's territory.
