Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Tuesday welcomed an assertion by the United Nations (UN) that prospects for a comprehensive solution to the long standing Cyprus problem "remain alive".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in a report on Monday that he would continue his Cyprus mission by undertaking a new sounding out of parties involved in the issue.

He said he would instruct his special envoy on the Cyprus dispute, Jane Holl Lute, to "continue discussions to gauge the true extent of convergences on key issues and the willingness of the sides to incorporate novel proposals as part of an overall solution toward a common future that they themselves can envisage".

But he warned against continued support for a horizon of endless process without results.

The Security Council is expected to sanction his new mission after discussing his report on Oct. 30.

Commenting on the Guterres report, the Cypriot government said that the most important and indisputably positive elements in it was instructing his personal envoy to make another round of visits for consultations with key players.

Lute visited Cyprus for talks with Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials and also Greece, Turkey and Britain, as guarantor powers of Cyprus, as well as Brussels.

She submitted a report to Guterres on her findings, which led him to the conclusion that much preparatory work lay ahead before full-fledged negotiations could start.

Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said the Guterres report answered fears that there cannot be a viable and functional agreement to reunite the eastern Mediterranean island.

He also expressed the government's satisfaction that the Secretary General repeated his set of six parameters for a Cyprus solution and his assertion that the 44-year-long status quo cannot be the final solution.

"Turkey cannot flirt with the idea of continuing the status quo in Cyprus after the Secretary General's statement," he said.

Turkish Cypriot officials of the so-called government in the occupied part of Cyprus which is recognized only by Turkey, said the Secretary General's report was an important and realistic document.

Political analysts in Nicosia said they put their stakes on an upcoming meeting of Cypriot President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci at the end of this month.