Cyprus to upgrade one-stop-shop for investors and businessmen

As from next January investors and businessmen will only need to contact one government service for all their permits in a streamlined process rather than having to go through different governmental departments, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides said during a panel discussion at the presentation of the World Bank’s “Doing Business Report 2010”.
The World Bank's Doing Business Report ranked Cyprus 40th among 183 countries according to 10 categories focusing on business matters of each country.
Paschalides noted that the government has recently decided to upgrade and expand the One-Stop-Shop set up in 2007 in order to operate as a true Point of Single Contact in accordance with the Services Directive.
He said that the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency is expected to play an important role in attracting foreign direct investments in targeted sectors and promoting Cyprus as a business bridge between the European Union and the Middle East.
Paschalides said that to date this year a total of 3869 applications for company registration were submitted to the One-Stop-Shop, while 5457 applications were submitted for name approval. The procedure for company registration is completed within 2-3 working days and the procedure for the approval of the name is completed in one day.
The total number of investors served by the Foreign Investors Service Centre was 215 and the number of companies registered by the Inland Revenue Department was 58.
The number of companies registered by the VAT Department was 90, while 93 companies applied to the Migration Department and 228 residence and employment permits were issued.
“We regard foreign direct investment as the best way for economic restructuring, the development of new technologies, products and brands leading to higher value-added products. It will help modernise local production making it more competitive, and improve the country's export prospects,” Paschalides said.
He added that Cyprus offers the necessary infrastructure to attract investments in the fields of high-tech and research, such as the Cyprus International Institute on the Environment and Public Health in cooperation with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the Science Technology Park, a national framework programme for financing research development and innovation (R&D&I) projects, the operation of the School of Engineering of the University of Cyprus, as well as the establishment of the Cyprus University of Technology.
Paschalides said that being ranked for the first time in the Doing Business Report of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is an important milestone for Cyprus.
Firstly, we believe that it is important to know where we stand vis-a-vis the other economies in terms of the ease of conducting business, the minister said.
Secondly, that the rankings “point out both our comparative strengths as well as the areas that require improvement within our various processes that touch the investor in their effort to establish a presence in Cyprus.”
Lastly, he added, “we believe that the advocacy role that CIPA has been charged with in its mandate, becomes even more clear: we intend to leverage the individual rankings and review the recommended best practices for adoption and adaptation in our roadmap for reform through collective synergy between the various government and private sector stakeholders,” he concluded.