Cyprus leaders to continue discussions on confidence building, says UN

(Reuters) -Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus have agreed to continue discussions towards confidence building, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, in a dispute which has kept NATO partners Greece and Turkey at odds for decades.

The Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will press ahead with attempts to open new crossing points between the two sides and cooperating on solar energy initiatives, Guterres said after hosting the Cypriot leaders at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"It is critical to implement all these initiatives as soon as possible, for the benefit of all Cypriots," Guterres said.

The two sides had agreed in an encounter with Guterres earlier this year to open four additional crossing points, demine, establish a youth affairs committee, and launch environmental and solar energy projects.

There are presently nine crossing points along a 180-km-long (116-mile-long) ceasefire line splitting the two sides. Guterres said there was a "question of itinerary" in relation to one of the new checkpoints opening but that there had been important progress on the issue.

Cyprus was split more than 50 years ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, following years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been in a stalemate since.

The Cyprus conflict is a key source of disagreement between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, fiercely defensive of their respective kin on the island.

(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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