On Friday 29 November 2019, Business Direction Events UK Ltd hosted their third annual International Event, Business Direction: Cyprus 2019 at the Marriott Hotel, Regents Park, along with our associate sponsors, Michael Kyprianou & Co LLC.
Once again there was an array of distinguished guest speakers and panellists including Cyprus Minister of Transport, Works and Communications, Mrs Vassiliki Anastassiadou, Archbishop Nikitas Loulias, Mr Savvas Savvides of Michael Kyprianou, newly appointed Cyprus High Commissioner Mr Andreas Kakouris, Yiannakis Hadjihannas from Invest Cyprus, Philippos Raptopoulos from Ernst Young Accountants and the ever present Xenia Neophitou from CX Financia, Chris Koutouroushis the MD of Bizserve Consultants, George Appios of AstroBank and Panikos Livadhiotis of Lefteris Livadhiotis & Sons Developers. Our compere keeping time was Markos Markou of A J Angelo Solicitors, assisted by Theo Antoniou from Michael Kyprianou.
The objective, as usual, was to continue to promote Cyprus as a perfect place for investment to businesses thinking of relocating and the potential investors.
The Archbishop gave a strong message to us all and Mrs Anastassiadou described the current developments and future projections that the Cyprus government and industry are undergoing.
“Our common vision is to establish Cyprus as a prosperous, reliable and competitive business hub, keen on providing the conditions under which any investor can thrive,” she said.
“In this respect, we are promoting a number of various reforms, aiming to further improve the business and investment environment, including a tax incentives package for investment to innovative companies, a new law to fast-track licensing procedures for large investments, reforming of the judiciary system, implementing a National Strategy for blockchain technology, as well as significant reforms in the public sector, the welfare system and the health care system.
“Furthermore, new and substantial investments have been materialized in the fields of banking, energy, shipping, telecommunications, retail, real estate and tourism, new sea ports, marinas and the largest integrated casino resort in Europe. In addition, over the last few years we have seen an increasing number of shipping management companies establishing a base in our country or expanding their existing operations.
“Besides the aforementioned sectors,” Mrs Anastassiadou added, “there are significant investment opportunities in Renewable Energy Sources, technology, education, research and innovation, while a series of tax incentives are also provided for the growing start-up industry.”
The Transport Minister continued, “The main target of the Government is to reduce energy costs and support one of the country’s most important restructuring reforms, the introduction of a Competitive Electricity Market. This will be achieved by the import of LNG for electricity generation by the end of 2021. The capital cost of the project is about 300 million euro out of which 101 million euro has already been secured from the EU.”
She added, “The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works has introduced a number of initiatives in order to encourage investments and enhance the existing infrastructure. The main priorities of the Ministry are the modernization of public transport, the sustainable mobility, the increase of the connectivity, the expansion of the road network and ports and the digitalisation reform.
“The commercialisation of the Limassol port in 2016 is one example, through which Cyprus’ biggest deep-sea port is being developed into one of the most modern and efficient ports in the region. A negotiation process is in progress for Cyprus’ second largest port, located in Larnaca, the commercialisation of which is expected to give a further boost to the tourism industry, an already booming sector of the economy.
“The industrial port at Vasilikos will be expanded to facilitate the support of the companies engaged with offshore exploration. At the same time, a number of public projects are in the pipeline such as the expansion and improvement of the road network which connects cities with villages such as Limassol-Saitas, Paphos-Polis, Nicosia-Palechori, Astromeritis-Eurychou, and the Ring road of Nicosia. Furthermore, projects such as the construction of the new Parliament and the new Archaeological museum of Nicosia are in progress.
“In addition, the public transport system will be upgraded with the provision of modern and latest technology buses in more frequent routes, in order to improve the quality of citizens’ life and to reduce traffic congestion,” Mrs Anastassiadou concluded.
The panels of experts gave their expert views and discussed the advantages and disadvantages in a variety of areas including the Cyprus investment programme, banking and tax benefits, the real return on investment in the construction and real estate sector and the final panel discussed the potential of doing business in Cyprus as a strategic investment choice.
Many of the attendees complimented the event and felt that it was as good as any that they have attended in the past. We now look forward to next year’s event.

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