The top UN envoy in Cyprus expressed on Tuesday his satisfaction with the intensified talks by Greek and Turkish Cypriot community leaders aimed at bridging differences in negotiations aimed at a solution to the Cyprus issue.
"We are happy with the way the two leaders are conducting the negotiations," said Alexander Downer, the United Nations Secretary- General's advisor on Cyprus.
He was talking to reporters after President Demetris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat concluded their second marathon meeting on Tuesday night.
They negotiated for a total of 15 hours in the past two days on the issue of governance and power sharing between the two communities.
They will have another session on Wednesday before recessing for more than one week, and embarking on another three-day round of intensive talks on January 25.
Downer said the two leaders had a long day of open and frank discussion on Tuesday.
Donwer's satisfaction echoed a statement by UN Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon in New York last week that he is encouraged by the talks in Cyprus. Ban encouraged both leaders to remain committed and to show flexibility and leadership.
President Christofias said after Tuesday's session, which lasted about eight hours, that he had submitted a document on the positions of the Greek Cypriot side on the governance and power sharing issue.
He added that the document was a response to a similar document submitted by the Turkish Cypriot side last week, which was rejected by the
Greek Cypriot political leadership as outside the scope of the agreed basis for a federal state solution.
Christofias said the two documents are not being discussed at his meetings with Talat.
"Because we have said we will not discuss the Turkish Cypriot document, it is not necessary to discuss the positions of our document either," said Christofias.
However, "we have the positions of the two sides in mind and we are discussing freely, having these positions in mind," he noted.
Meanwhile, a Turkish Cypriot spokesman said the document submitted by Talat will not be withdrawn just because the Greek Cypriot side said it is not acceptable as a basis of negotiations.
The talks between the two sides started 16 months ago but despite agreeing on several points there are still wide divergences on central
issues which block the way to a solution to the long standing division of the eastern Mediterranean island since 1974.