In her intervention, Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry Natasha Pileidou said regarding the developments in trade and industry in Cyprus that despite the challenges, there is an upward trend, with Cypriot companies showing tremendous resilience.
She added that from the Ministry's side there is a focus on two pillars, explaining that the first is through the sponsorship projects to enhance entrepreneurship, competitiveness and extroversion of businesses, which has to do with technological upgrading and attracting the international market in a more modern way. The second, she continued, is the shift to green transition, which has to do with the practices of the companies themselves, but also of the state, in order to support entrepreneurship.
Pileidou said that the situation requires short-term and long-term measures, adding that the energy upgrade sponsorship schemes offer tangible support with €150 million.
She added that an effort has been launched to strengthen the business facilitation unit, through which 25 to 30 companies have brought hundreds of workers to Cyprus in sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals and shipping. Over 300 companies are currently members of this mechanism, the minister continued, adding that the system is to be fully digitised and include the one-stop-shop for the licensing of large renewable energy projects.
On energy, the minister said special targeting is needed. There are the medium and long-term measures which have to do with the interconnection of Cyprus with the European market through the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity cable, which has secured 650 million in funding from the EU, while plans for energy storage sponsorships are expected later this year, she said.
For his part, Greek Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiades said that the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have reversed the extremely promising forecasts for the Greek economy's growth rates in early 2020 and 2022 respectively, with the current situation in China further exacerbating the already prevailing global uncertainty with strong inflationary trends and disruptions in the supply chain.
According to Mr. Georgiades, the Greek government has taken a series of measures aimed mainly at increasing the disposable income of citizens in order to address the price pressure, while it has also made a large reduction in various categories of taxes and two successive increases in the minimum wage, as well as a series of subsidy policies aimed at preventing the very high pressure on the energy market that can cause both social instability and a major drag on the economy.
The Greek Development Minister noted that Europe is struggling to make decisions in the face of a difficult problem in a Eurozone with the highest inflation in its history, stressing that providing new money for energy will lead to a new wave of inflation.
The big gamble for Greece, according to Mr. Georgiades, is to transform itself from a fossil fuel importing country to a renewable energy producing and exporting country, which he considers perfectly feasible given the country's wind and solar potential, since it is already connected to the rest of Europe. Therefore, at a time when the cost of using renewable energy is lower than that of gas and oil, the previously competitive disadvantage of the economy, i.e. expensive energy, can be turned into a competitive advantage, he said.
Then, Cyprus Health Minister Michalis Hadjipandela said that the crisis due to the war in Ukraine is not new to Cyprus, as the country has already faced and overcome problems related to the availability of certain medicines. He explained that many pharmaceutical companies have focused in the last two years on the manufacture of vaccines, while a second problem the country managed to face was the access to medicines of British origin after the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
Hatzipandela added that lately and despite the crisis there are several companies that want to invest in the health sector in Cyprus, citing as examples the acquisition of private hospitals by large investment funds and the recent takeover of a number of private hospitals in Cyprus.
