A first meeting of the technical committees was set to take place on 18 April 2008. Talat and Christofias met socially at a cocktail party on 7 May 2008, and agreed to meet regularly to review the progress of the talks so far. A second formal summit was held on 23 May 2008 to review the progress made in the technical committees. At a meeting on 1 July 2008, the two leaders agreed in principle on the concepts of a single citizenship and a single sovereignty, and decided to start direct reunification talks very soon; on the same date, former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer was appointed as the new UN envoy for Cyprus. Christofias and Talat agreed to meet again on 25 July 2008 for a final review of the preparatory work before the actual negotiations would start. Christofias was expected to propose a rotating presidency for the united Cypriot state. Talat stated he expected they would set a date to start the talks in September, and reiterated that he would not agree to abolishing the guarantor roles of Turkey and Greece, with a reunification plan would be put to referendums in both communities after negotiations.