On 12 October 2026, UN Good Offices Mission staff briefed a visiting World Bank delegation on the Mission’s recent activities and exchanged views on how island-wide economic interdependence, business opportunities and private sector cooperation can help bring the two communities closer together.
The briefing was followed by a working dinner hosted by the World Bank with businesswomen from both sides of the island.
The UN Secretary-General, during his July 2026 visit to the island, expressed “full solidarity with the people of Cyprus in their quest for a solution” and stressed that “this is the moment when all efforts must be made to rebuild trust.”
The importance of economic interdependence and trade as tools for building trust and mutual understanding has featured in several recent reports of the Secretary-General on his mission of good offices in Cyprus.
In his July 2025 report, the Secretary-General stated: “Intra-island trade and increased economic ties, as a means of reconnecting the two communities separated for decades, requires the support from the highest levels in each community.”
Cooperation between the UN Good Offices Mission and the World Bank in support of the peace process in Cyprus included technical assistance provided during the round of negotiations in 2015–2017 and continued through more recent milestones, including a gender-sensitive socio-economic impact assessment study in 2019, a joint roundtable on Enhancing Competitiveness and Promoting Economic Integration across the Island in 2022, and a joint event on Comparative Analysis of Living Standards and Economic Opportunities in 2025.
The United Nations Good Offices Mission in Cyprus supports the work of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy in the peace process and facilitates the 13 Technical Committees, helping sustain dialogue, build trust and address issues of importance across the island.
