Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Friday agreed to open a new checkpoint linking the two sides on the divided island in a move expected to boost slow-moving peace talks, Reuters reported. The crossing point, in a remote semi-mountainous region in the north-west of the island, had been a long standing demand from locals living on both sides. "The two leaders decided to proceed with the opening of the Yesilirmak/Limnitis crossing point under normal rules of existing crossings," said Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the United Nations special representative for Cyprus. It was not immediately clear when the checkpoint would open. The Limnitis checkpoint will be the seventh crossing linking the island's estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriots, separated by a U.N. policed buffer zone splitting the island east to west. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, on a fleeting visit to Cyprus on Thursday, said the EU would finance part of the cost of the new checkpoint.
