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- Ελληνικά
Yesterday, Thursday 29 February 2024, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr. Kyriakos Kakouris, in the presence of the Director General of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, as well as a delegation on behalf of the European Investment Bank, and executives of the Ministry, where it was established that the priorities of the state are included in the projects that the European Investment Bank is interested in financing, which shows Cyprus' absolute identification with Europe.
The meeting reaffirmed the long-standing excellent cooperation between the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works and the European Investment Bank, which has resulted in the achievement of visibly good results and the implementation of important projects aimed at sustainable socio-economic development.
Taking into account the special character of Cyprus, as an island member state of the European Union (EU), far from continental Europe, where all movements of people and goods inland are carried out by road, combined with the absence of a railway network, the full dependence on road transport was recognised, as well as the necessity of operating a modern, efficient and safe road network.
The road network in combination with airports, ports and long-distance public transport realize the multimodality of transport in Cyprus. In this context, and recognising the specificities of an island state, the European Investment Bank looks positively on the continued financing of roads and ports.
Building projects, especially energy upgrading projects of buildings, especially governmental ones, are also among the projects that the European Investment Bank is interested to include in its financing.
Finally, road safety was identified as an important action that the European Investment Bank is interested to study for financing.
Finally, road safety was identified as an important action that the European Investment Bank is interested to study for financing. Projects that will help to further reduce road collisions are potentially eligible. It is noted that as Cyprus we have shown steady improvement in recent years in this area, reducing fatal collisions to an average lower than that of the EU. Specifically, in 2022 in Cyprus there were 41 deaths from road collisions per million inhabitants, while in the EU the corresponding figure is 46 deaths per million inhabitants. Vafeades stressed that the Republic of Cyprus will remain a loyal partner of the European Investment Bank in the coming years, proposing high value projects with European added value and fully aligned with national and European climate emission targets.
(Sap/EAth/NG)
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