Athens, Nicosia - Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders focused peace negotiations Thursday on governance and power sharing in an effort to find a formula to reunite the divided Mediterranean island.

It was the third meeting between Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehemt Ali Talat since they launched a new round of peace talks on September 3.

"We will meet again on October 8 to discuss the shape the future federal government should take," said Christofias.

Peace talks have been deadlocked after former president Tassos Papadopoulos led the Greek-Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification plan in a 2004 referendum.

Turkish Cypriots had overwhelmingly voted in favour.

With newly-elected Christofias in office, expectations are running high for a breakthrough in efforts to reunite the island, which has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-led coup to annex the island to Greece.

The two sides have agreed in principle to reunite the island as a federal entity composed of two constituent states, which would guarantee the equality of both communities.

The real problem dividing the two sides is how the Greek Cypriot majority would share power with the minority Turkish Cypriots.

The Turkish Cypriots want a loose federation while the Greek Cypriots want a stronger central government and more limited regional powers which will prevent the island falling back into partition.

Meeting at the site of the abandoned, bullet-riddled former airport in the UN buffer zone, both sides have been focusing on the complex list of issues dividing the two sides.

These range from territory and property disputes from more 250,000 people who have lost their homes, to future governance of the island. (dpa)