Manthos Mavromatis elected new KEVE president

Nicosia businessman Manthos Mavrommatis was elected President of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) on Monday afternoon, during the association’s annual general meeting.

Mavrommatis, who headed the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce, was widely expected to win the race. He got 17 of the votes, against 12 for Limassol’s Tony Antoniou, succeeding two-term President Vassilis Rologis, who has taken up executive duties as Chairman of the Bank of Cyprus Group.

The KEVE Executive Committee also comprises four Vice Presidents for Trade (Theodoros Aristodimou), Industry (Andreas Louroutziatis), Services (Tony Antoniou) and Tourism (Vassos Hadjitheodossiou), while Nicos Lakoufis was elected Honorary Treasurer.

Mavrommatis said that chief among his priorities will be the integration of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2) and the smooth adoption of the euro, expected to become the official currency of Cyprus on January 1, 2008.

“There is no doubt that we are entering the most critical three-year period for the Cypriot economy and for Cyprus in general. Our efforts should concentrate on achieving the ERM targets and the adoption of the Euro, as well as the structural reforms that are incorporated within the National Action Plan of the Lisbon Strategy, with which we agree,” Mavrommatis said.

According to the new KEVE President, the efforts should be concentrated on all the sectors that needs to reinforce their competitiveness, their productivity and the agility of the Cyprus economy to be able to respond to the difficult challenges that lie ahead.

The accession to the ERM and the adoption of the Euro expected a high level of discipline from all social partners and we, on our part, want to contribute in this direction, he added.