[PIO] The President of the Republic chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers

The President of the Republic Mr.Nicos Christodoulides chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers. At the beginning of the meeting, he briefed the members of the Council on the actions of the Government following the massive arrivals of Syrian refugees from Lebanon.

Christodoulides, after indicating that there is a serious crisis, particularly with the external dimension of the issue, said he had contacted the Chairperson of the Commission, whom he will also meet on Sunday, while the Interior Minister discussed the issue with the relevant Commissioner as well as with the Lebanese Prime Minister. He added: "Considering the fact that Lebanon is a country that the European Union is supporting financially both to manage the migration issue and to manage the internal challenges the country is facing, we expect the European Union to take a more prominent role, and some actions were agreed upon with both the President of the Commission and the competent Commissioner in the coming days."

Referring to the other items on the agenda of the Council of Ministers, the President said: "Today we have important issues on the agenda. We need to take decisions within the framework of the priorities of our governance programme. First, appointment of a Financial Commissioner with now expanded powers and duties. Also, today we will discuss and decide on the extension of the rent versus instalment scheme, for which the new proposal we will discuss will cover more borrowers."

Christodoulides referred to the new memorandum of cooperation between the Police and the FBI, which he described as a priority issue for the Government, and reiterated that "no one is above the reputation and credibility of our country."

Continuing, the President referred to the sponsorship plans as follows: "We have a sponsorship plan for the revitalization of the rural areas of the mountainous regions, something that both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Ministry of Tourism are emphasizing, and the sponsorship plan for the circular economy for small and medium enterprises, which is within the Recovery and Resilience Plan. We sponsor small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve the objectives of the circular economy."

In conclusion, the President of the Republic noted that the regulations for the implementation of the legislation for facilitating strategic development projects, the proposal of which was adopted in the first Cabinet of the Christodoulides Government but was prepared by the previous Government, will also be discussed. As Christodoulides said, the adoption of the regulations will help "to start the implementation of large projects worth more than €25 million, or projects that will create more than 80 jobs". He stressed that it is important to proceed with the regulations as soon as possible in order to attract quality investments.

(RM/NZ/EL/EP)
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