President Nicos Anastasiades has presented to Egypt investment opportunities Cyprus offers, highlighting the measures taken by the government to attract foreign investment.
Speaking at a dinner in Cairo, where he is paying an official visit, President Anastasiades said that Cyprus and Egypt share common needs as well as the intense interest in securing peace and stability in the region.
He said that during 2011, the stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Cyprus to Egypt was fifteen million euros while the FDI from Egypt to Cyprus was nineteen million euros. During the past year, the FDI from Cyprus to Egypt climbed to nineteen million euros while the FDI from Egypt to Cyprus also climbed to the twenty million euros. “It is evident from these facts that there is a great potential for commercial developments between our countries, even during these years when the global economic crisis restricts the development of many nations”, he stressed.
President Anastasiades, presenting the competitive advantages of Cyprus, referred to the competitive tax system and the low 12.5% corporate tax rate, the extensive network of Double Tax Treaties – that includes Egypt, and the excellent professional and financial services.
Referring to the current situation of the Cypriot economy, he noted that all the hard work as well as the many sacrifices made by the Cypriot people are already paying off and acknowledged at the international level. “Since we began implementing our comprehensive development strategy in March, we’ve had two positive evaluations by the Troika, recoding an increase of deposits by residents of third countries during October of €400 million and in November the rating agency Standard & Poor’s issued the first upgrade for the Cyprus economy after three years of successive downgrades”, he said.
President Anastasiades stressed that Cyprus offers potential investors a wealth of promising opportunities, setting as an example, the discovery of natural gas reserves within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone that creates excellent prospects for investments and cooperation between Cypriot and foreign businesses in the energy sector and auxiliary services. “Adding to these is the Government’s decision to construct, onshore Cyprus, a Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal, in order to meet the needs of offshore gas exploration and production activities in our neighborhood”, he said.
Apart from the Energy sector, Anastasiades said that Cyprus offers great opportunities in other areas of the economy such as health, education, shipping and tourism. Finally, he referred to the government’s decision to develop the casino industry which will create new investment opportunities
Excluded from the international markets, Cyprus applied for financial assistance to cover its fiscal needs and to rescue its two largest bank hit severely by deteriorating assets amid the financial crisis and by the Greek sovereign debt haircut. The Cypriot authorities and the Troika (EC, ECB and the IMF) agreed last March on a €10 billion bailout, featuring haircut of uninsured deposits. So far Cyprus has received two positive reviews on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, the basis of its international bail-out.
