— $360 mln bilateral trade tilts to imports
Bilateral trade between Cyprus and Israel is expected to rise by 20% to 25% over last year’s overall figure of USD 360 mln, boosted primarily by standing free trade agreements with the European Union, officials said Tuesday.
Since joining the E.U. a year ago Cyprus now enjoys unlimited advantages in doing business with Israel with tariffs and trade barriers lifted, paving the way for increased imports and exports of goods and services.
“We expect great interest in the shipping, chemical, oil, plastics, telecommunications and high tech sectors, as a major contract in one of these will be signed during the ‘Days of Israel’,” Ambassador Zvi Cohen-Litant said.
“The two government are also on the verge of concluding a double-taxation avoidance agreement,” added Christakis Papavassiliou, President of the Cyprus-Israel Business Association.
Panayiotis Loizides, General Secretary of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) said that proposals for cooperation are greater now, as both sides aspire to boost trade further.
“That is why Commerce and Industry Minister Yiorgos Lillykas will be heading a trade delegation to Israel on May 22-25,” Loizides said.
Announcing the upcoming “Days of Israel” culture, food and business fiesta to be held in Nicosia and Limassol, the Ambassador said that 20 exhibitors will be showing their wares and services.
Folk dance groups will perform at the Stelios Ioannou Foundation on Friday and will repeat their show at Nicosia’s Eleftheria Square on Saturday, while a gala dinner of Israeli food and wine will be held at Limassol’s Hawaii Hotel.
The six-day event moves to the International Conference Centre on Sunday that will include trade exhibition, Israeli food and wine tasting, projection of Israeli films with Greek subtitles and more folk dances. The exhibition will be opened by Culture and Education Minister Pefkios Georgiades on Sunday afternoon, while the Ambassador accompanies Foreign Minister George Iacovou on a one-day official visit to Israel.
The trade exhibition will remain open at the Conference Centre until next Tuesday evening, that will coincide with the official reception marking Israel’s Independence Day.
Israel will not be taking part in the Cyprus International Fair, “as this set up and environment suits us better,” Papavassiliou concluded.
With 6,000 tourists from Cyprus visiting Israel last year alone, Yehuda Shen, Director of Central and Southern Europe at the Ministry of Tourism in Jerusalem will address a workshop for tourism professionals at the Conference Centre on Monday to say that “Israel is not only the Holy Land.”
Embassy officials confirmed that the number of Israeli tourists in Cyprus reached 30,000 last year and this figure is expected to rise to 40,000 this year.
Panayiotis Loizides said that a trade delegation headed by Lillykas is already in Egypt, with whom Cyprus enjoys a healthy balance of imports and exports, while a KEVE delegation will be in Kuwait and Qatar on June 4-9, considered as primarily export markets.
