Stavrakis thanks China for support to Cyprus struggle

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis has expressed the gratitude of the Republic of Cyprus for the constant support of China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to the just struggle of the people of Cyprus for the reunification of the island.

Stavrakis was speaking, in his capacity as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, during a meeting with a delegation of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, headed by Vice-President of the Congress Hua Jianmin, currently on an official visit to Cyprus.

He expressed the commitment of the Republic of Cyprus ''to continue to support Chinese positions regarding the issue of Taiwan and Tibet,'' and referred to the opportunities to further enhance the economic relations between the two countries, taking into consideration the fact that Cyprus is a member of the Eurozone and provides low taxation indices and agreements to avoid double taxation with many countries.

Stavrakis explained to the delegation that ''China can use Cyprus as a base for investments in the rest of the world,'' adding that the Chinese economy has huge exchange reserves from the surplus in commercial transactions and a small part could be invested in Cyprus.

''China is a financial superpower and it is our duty to continue all possible efforts to increase the economic cooperation between the two countries,'' he pointed out.

Stavrakis noted that they also discussed the establishment of direct flights to Cyprus by Chinese state-owned and private airlines, adding that the Chinese officials undertook to look into this possibility.