Nicosia, Cyprus—— A meeting between the two leaders in ethnically divided Cyprus on Monday failed to reach an agreement on a confidence-building deal that would include opening new crossings in a U.N.-controlled buffer zone.

Greek Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said in a joint statement that they had instructed their representatives to continue negotiations and would meet "in the coming days" .

The leaders met for nearly two hours at the official residence of Colin Stewart, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, to hammer out a deal to open at specific locations along the 180-kilometer (120-mile) U.N. peacekeeping mission. New border crossing. A controlled buffer zone across the island.

But leaders left the meeting without announcing the opening of any crossings. They confirmed in a joint statement that "both sides believe that opening new border crossings is crucial to facilitate the movement of people, strengthen economic ties and build trust."

The dispute appears to be over the location of the crossing, which would benefit both sides. Christodoulides said after the meeting that the Tatars had rejected a specific crossing location and were "not ready" to agree on eight confidence-building initiatives, including the establishment of a joint committee on youth affairs and truth and reconciliation Committee Committee.

"Everything depends on when the Turkish side is ready," Christodoulides said.

Since the opening of the first such crossing in April 2003, there have been eight such crossings throughout the buffer zone, allowing people on both sides to cross on a daily basis - many of them mainly Turkish Cypriots going to work.

But people on both sides want to see more such crossings opened to facilitate and speed up their commute across the dividing line. The dividing line was cemented in 1974 when Türkiye invaded Greece and a few days later staged a coup by supporters of Greek unity.

The Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence is recognized only by Türkiye, which has more than 35,000 troops stationed in the northern third of the island.

The crossing agreement would be a major boost to United Nations efforts to restart and restart formal talks on resolving the island's ethnic divisions after a seven-year hiatus. The United Nations will host Christodoulides and Tatar in March in Switzerland, along with senior officials from the island's so-called guarantors - Greece, Turkey and Britain - to examine how to get talks back on track.

But Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots insist on abandoning a UN-sanctioned plan to unify Cyprus into a federation of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot regions and demand a two-state deal, undermining hopes of a peace deal.

The Greek Cypriots will not sign any agreement to formally divide the island, and they oppose any terms demanded by Turkey to permanently station Turkish troops on the island and grant Ankara the right to intervene militarily.