Nicosia- Hopes were high for a solution to bring the division of Cyprus to an end, top United Nations official Lynn Pascoe said Tuesday in Nicosia after a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on direct Cyprus negotiations.

"I am here because the eyes of the world are very much on Cyprus," he told reporters. "There (are) huge hopes and expectations that the process moves forward rapidly and that there will be a solution to the Cyprus issue."

Pascoe, the US head of the UN political affairs department, was due later to meet Cyprus President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, before returning Wednesday to inform the UN Security Council of progress in the talks.

The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed to meet on June 23 to discuss when direct negotiations on the island's future could begin.

The UN Security Council decided Friday to extend its peacekeeping mission in Cyprus another six months while both Turkish and Greek Cypriots are negotiating an end to the division.

The mission, with about 900 military military and police personnel, will remain until December 15.

The council urged both sides to build on the present momentum of their dialogue to break through deep-seated differences brewing for decades and find solutions that would end the division of the island.

Turkish Cypriots live in northern Cyprus and Greek Cypriots are in the south, separated by a ceasefire line manned by UN peacekeepers since the early 1970s. (dpa)