The UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres has recommended Canadian diplomat Colin Stewart to replace Elizabeth Spehar as the new Special Representative to Cyprus and Chief of UNFICYP (UN Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus), the Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday.

Should both sides approve the name, Guterres will have to notify the UN Security Council (UNSC) by letter of his intention to appoint Stewart as Special Representative for Cyprus.

The appointment of the new special representative was among the issues discussed during Guterres’s trilateral meeting with President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar and the leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration Nikos Anastasiadis, in New York last month.

Stewart, who has held various positions within the UN, previously worked as a special envoy for Western Sahara.

Meanwhile, Jane Holl Lute, the UN Secretary-General’s temporary special envoy for Cyprus, resigned after being appointed to a top executive position for energy company Royal Dutch Shell.