NICOSIA (AFP)--The two leaders of divided Cyprus will meet May 23 to review progress in preparations for peace negotiations due to start in June, a senior Turkish Cypriot official said Thursday. 

It wasn't immediately clear where Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat would meet. 

"We hope the two leaders will launch the comprehensive negotiation process under U.N. sponsorship in June and that we will achieve a comprehensive settlement towards the end of the year," said Ferdi Sabit Soyer, premier of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey. 

In April, the U.N. launched preparatory work between the two sides to pave the way for peace talks next month. Working groups and technical committees have been tasked with bridging the differences on key issues - including property, security and territory - to give the reunification talks a chance to succeed. 

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkish troops occupied its northern third following an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. 

Christofias and Talat met at a cocktail party Wednesday held to mark the new efforts to end the division. They were guests of honor at a reception at the Ledra Palace, once one of the island's top hotels and now a makeshift barracks for peacekeepers inside the U.N.-controlled buffer zone. 

The event was organized by officials from the Slovakian embassy and was the pair's first meeting since a landmark deal Mar. 21 to launch peace talks. 

Christofias was elected in February on a platform of finding a solution to the island's division. 

There had been no progress towards solving the problem since Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected a U.N.-drafted reunification blueprint in 2004. Turkish Cypriots approved it.