The Greek and Turkish Cypriot Presidents agreed on Thursday to open two new crossing points and discussed other confidence-building measures (CBMs).

Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci expressed their shared will and determination to reach a comprehensive settlement, the Cyprus Mail reports.

One of the new crossings will be opened in Lefka in the west, while the other one will be in Deryneia in the east, adding to the already seven existing ones.

Apart from the existing and the two new ones, the leaders also agreed to work towards the opening of more crossing points, which were proposed for further examination by the respective committee.

The two leaders also reached an agreement on four other concrete steps, such as interconnecting the electricity grids and enhancing mobile phone interoperability.

Work will also commence on preventing radio frequency interferences and a gender equality committee will be established.

UN Special Adviser of Secretary-General on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide, who delivered a statement on behalf of the two leaders, expressed his satisfaction with the progress of reconciliation talks.

According to Eide, the two leaders took the necessary steps towards fulfilling their joint vision of united federal Cyprus.

Anastasiades and Akinci also agreed that their next meetings will be held on June 17 and 29 and July 10 and 27.

There has been progress in reconciliation talks, which were renewed on May 15, with the two presidents having met twice, while negotiating teams met five teams in the past two weeks.

The two leaders also demonstrated their commitment towards solving the crucial humanitarian issue of missing persons.