CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland, June 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that the positions of the two conflicting communities in Cyprus were showing "increased flexibility", but the most important things are still to be agreed upon.
Guterres arrived at the Swiss Alpine town of Crans-Montana on Friday morning in an effort to push forward the ongoing peace talks on the reunification of Cyprus.
"There is no doubt that some sensitive and difficult issues remain to be resolved," the UN chief said during a press briefing after holding a session with all parties, adding that "the security and guarantees chapter" was of crucial importance for a comprehensive solution.
He said that the reconvening of the conference offered an historic opportunity to reach a comprehensive settlement to a conflict that had divided Cyprus for too long.
"The road back to Switzerland has not been easy, but the path to lasting peace never is," he said.
He called on Cypriot leaders and other participants at the conference to heed the call for peace coming from thousands of Cypriots at rallies on the island this week.
"The UN is here to support the parties, and we are not impatient. What we want is the result to be positive and sustainable; we don't want a false agreement that would not last," he said.
The new round of the Conference on Cyprus under the auspices of the UN started Wednesday morning here, which the UN official described as having "a constructive and good start."
Participants of the conference include Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, as well as foreign ministers and senior representatives from Turkey, Greece, Britain, and the EU.
The talks at Crans-Montana take place in two separate "tables", one dealing with the key issue of security and guarantees, which involve the guarantor countries, and the other tackling bi-communal issues like governance and power-sharing.
UN officials have said that among the six major chapters of negotiation, security and guarantees was where the positions were diametrically opposed.
The UN said negotiations involving the four chapters -- governance and power sharing, property, economy, and EU matters -- were largely finished and the two sides had made unprecedented progress on the territory chapter.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied part of the country's territory in reaction to a coup by the military rules of Greece at the time.
