Press Releases

It is a great pleasure to be with you today and an honor to address such a distinguished audience at this Symposium which is co-organized by the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs, the School of Law of the University of Nicosia, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Allow me to express my appreciation to H.E. the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Cyprus, Mr Huang Xingyuan, for the excellent cooperation and particularly for promoting my initiative for a Memorandum of Understanding between the House of Representatives and the National People’s Congress that was signed in December 2018. The main objective of the Memorandum is to shift the focus from the predominantly cultural character of their existing cooperation to open new avenues for exploring more ways of strategic and practical significance, particularly under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The great country of China and the small island of Cyprus share very special bonds. Since the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 1971, the two countries have substantially strengthened their bilateral relations and created the conditions for a very productive cooperation at the political, social, cultural, economic and trade levels. The Government of Cyprus consistently supports the principle of “One China” and equally, China holds a principled stance as regards the Cyprus problem, supporting the independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty and integrity of Cyprus and a fair and sustainable solution based on pertinent UN resolutions. Cyprus, for its part, as a member of the European Union, advocates issues of paramount importance for China within the Union. The excellent bilateral relations are also confirmed by high-level exchanges of visits between Cyprus and China.

My working visit to China in November 2017, was an excellent opportunity to have an insider’s view of the Belt and Road Initiative, through my extremely fruitful meetings with Chinese high officials and especially my counterpart, the then Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Mr Zhang Dejiang. In addition, my visit to China certainly enabled both sides to reiterate our shared commitment to transform the existing excellent bilateral relations between our two countries into a more practical form of cooperation, especially in the fields of tourism, trade, investment, as well as entrepreneurship, education and innovation, infrastructure, renewable energy and biotechnology. 

Cyprus supports China’s future strategies and goals, particularly President Xi’s “One Belt One Road Initiative”, as it contains extremely strong prospects for cooperation and is eager to maximize its cooperation with China and ultimately become a valuable partner, with mutual benefits.

The Belt and Road Initiative constitutes a great vision, one that aims at ending the current economic immobility, on the one hand, and attracting investment, on the other, thus tackling unemployment and laying the foundations for peace, stability and prosperity, through the cooperation of all stakeholders on a vast scale transcending borders. To this end, Cyprus and particularly the House of Representatives is ready to work closely with China and its European partners, in order to effectively support this initiative, especially in the direction of successfully promoting the goals and values of the Maritime Road, as a key transit station on the paths of the Initiative.

Located at the crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa, Cyprus is not only a regional maritime, services and energy center, but also a vital link of the Belt and Road Initiative. The good level of relations with all the Middle East neighboring countries, the developed shipping sector and the excellent telecommunication infrastructure, provide our small island country the ability to play a pivotal role in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, acting primarily as a bridge of dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Asia.

Cyprus aspires to have even stronger collaboration and synergies through the active support of China’s legitimate goals and the promotion of the two countries’ major initiatives to the benefit of their respective citizens and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, as also reflected in the Memorandum of Understanding between the House of Representatives and the National People’s Congress.

There is still plenty of room for improvement in the field of Cyprus-China commercial relations. Cyprus has many products, like wine and halloumi cheese, that could be exported to China. Many investment opportunities are, at the same time, provided in Cyprus for Chinese entrepreneurs. China, on the other end, can provide advanced systems for producing renewable energy and solar panels. These could again result in increasing the volume of trade between the two countries, thus forming possible additional synergies under the Belt and Road Initiative.

With the development of Chinese outbound tourism during the last decade, Cyprus offers an alternative opportunity to the Chinese traveler, perhaps combined with close-by attractive destinations. The proximity of Cyprus to Middle East destinations, like Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, make Cyprus an ideal base for a multi-destination holiday in the Eastern Mediterranean, which could also include Greece. This, coupled with the establishment of direct flights between China and Cyprus could positively benefit their touristic equilibrium. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to stress what I strongly believe: The answers we pursue for the turbulent Eastern Mediterranean region can only be found in collective endeavors, in boosted cooperation and by fostering more synergies in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and to this end, I would like to inform you about another initiative I have recently taken: the establishment of a Middle East Regional Cooperation Center. I am convinced that the cooperation we started constructing in our region, together with synergies that we can apply under the Chinese Initiative, are bound to lead to conditions of stability, prosperity and security. Cyprus is determined to continue utilizing its geostrategic location in this direction.

Dear friends,

Countries in our region have a responsibility to further strengthen their relations, not only at the political level, but also at a more practical, day-to-day level, as the Belt and Road Initiative aims. The stronger these relations are, the stronger and more prosperous the future of our citizens will be. Cyprus can become the center of such cooperation and we invite other neighboring countries, who are not yet part of this Chinese transformative Initiative, to share this vision and join us.

Once again, I express my pleasure for joining you today and I hope that, by the end of this Symposium, we will all have gained a better understanding of everything that China has achieved, as well as of what the future holds for this great country, which also of course affects our region and the world.

As a Chinese proverb says: “Only when the water in the big river is high, will the small stream rise”. Equally, the destiny of every country is inextricably linked to that of the whole world.

Thank you very much for your attention.

(ML)