Doing Business in Cyprus (Saudi edition)

DOING BUSINESS C YPRUS
35
SAUDI ARABIA EDITION
Cyprus and Saudi Arabia have recently placed
strong focus on further strengthening their bilateral
relations. What are the key pillars that form this
diplomatic relationship and how do you see this
bilateral partnership developing in the future?
C
yprus views Saudi Arabia as one of its key strategic partners in our wider region and
I am particularly happy to note that, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic –
and more recently by the war in Ukraine – our relations and cooperation grew stronger
in a number of fields.
Fundamental ingredients of this relationship are our shared values and strong
commitment on the core principles of international law, on a rules-based international
order, including the law of the sea and our across-the-board respect of the principles
of sovereignty and territorial integrity. These are non-negotiable principles for both
countries.
The official visit of President Anastasiades last March, who I had the privilege to
accompany, the exchange of visits of other high officials and the well awaited visit of
HRH the Crown Prince to Cyprus, are good indicators of a steadily growing and more
mature, cooperative and results-oriented bilateral relationship. The Joint Statement,
which was adopted following the President’s visit, states the strong commitment of
the two countries for bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination and the
willingness to contribute to regional and international security and stability. It also
serves as a roadmap of our partnership in many fields. Towards this end, we aim to
create a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Framework, focusing on key domains
of economic cooperation, including inter alia tourism, digital cooperation, shipping,
energy, culture and education.
Having said that, our cooperation is already materialising, producing concrete and
tangible results. Cyprus was among the first countries to declare its support to the
Kingdom’s candidacy for EXPO2030; we were the first EU Member State to become a
member of the Digital Cooperation Organization launched by the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia last year to strengthen cooperation across innovation-driven sectors and
accelerate the growth of the digital economies of its members; and more recently,
telecommunications companies from Cyprus and Saudi Arabia became parties of the
East Med Corridor (EMC), an undersea data cable of geostrategic importance, which
will start in Singapore, pass through Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus and Greece and end in
Italy and France.
In addition, both Cyprus and Saudi Arabia have adopted national long-term visions
that aspire to unlock their potential and opportunities, to better address current and
future challenges and to safeguard growth and prosperity for our people and for our
wider common region. These are reflected in Cyprus’ Vision 2035 and Saudi Arabia’s
Vision 2030 respectively, which include unprecedented reforms and promote more
sustainable and open economies. I firmly believe that these provide a vast scope for
strengthening our political and economic cooperation even further and I am confident
that in the years to come, this cooperation will have a direct positive impact on our
peoples. n