NICOSIA (AFP) \u2014 Rival Cypriot leaders began talks on Thursday on how to share power in a future unified state, their first substantive negotiations in a bid to end the Mediterranean island’s 34-year division.<\/p>\n
President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat discussed power-sharing and governance during what UN envoy Alexander Downer called “productive and fruitful talks.”<\/p>\n
The four-hour meeting at Nicosia’s abandoned airport in the UN-patrolled buffer zone followed the launch last week of official negotiations seen as the best chance of peace for years despite entrenched differences.<\/p>\n
“We began negotiations on the substance of governance and power-sharing. The talks have been productive and… fruitful,” Downer said, adding that the leaders would meet again on September 18.<\/p>\n
“There are no particular timelines agreed, but the two leaders are doing what they can to push the process ahead at the appropriate speed. There’s a long way to go.”<\/p>\n
Afterwards Christofias was reluctant to comment on how the meeting went. “This is not the time to say whether I’m pleased or not.”<\/p>\n
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