The Month in the Cyprus Region, 14 May 2024
Links to regional developments of relevance to Cyprus
Photo source: Shutterstock subscription.
Since it is a struggle to produce a regular freebie, I have renamed this the Month in the Cyprus Region. This is a selection of links to articles of medium- to long-term relevance to people living and doing business in Cyprus. The main aim is to pick stories or developments of stories which might not have been covered by the Cypriot media, although this time we also include the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting. The Month in the Cyprus Region is part of the Sapienta Cyprus Snippets series. Learn more about the different subsections here.
This issue is heavy on Turkey’s relations with neighbours and others.
Turkey-Greece relations. Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, visited Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara for a mainly amiable meeting on 13 May as part of the ongoing rapprochement between the two countries. They aim to increase bilateral trade to from $6bn to $10bn. (Article source: Kathimerini.) Relevance to Cyprus: my hunch is that Greece and Turkey will not address the Cyprus problem until relations between them have matured. In the meantime, however, warmer relations between Greece and Turkey should help to reduce security risks in and offshore Cyprus.
Turkey energy and defence. Turkey signed an agreement on 8 May for the long-term supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US giant, ExxonMobil. The stated aim is to diversify energy sources and the deal came ahead of the expiry of Turkey’s long-term agreements with Russia. It also came as Turkey and the US move closer to the final deal on the supply of F-16 fighter jets from the US. (Article sources: Reuters; Anadolu Agency.) Relevance to Cyprus: one day one might hope that Exxon’s “Glaucus” gas find in Block 10 of the Republic of Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) could also become a supplier to Turkey. However, for now the Exxon-Turkey deal seems to be more about providing markets for US LNG via the huge Golden Pass project run by Exxon and Qatar Energy (also a partner with Exxon in Block 10).
Turkey and oil exports to Israel. Turkey announced on 2 May that it would be halting all $5.4bn annual exports to Israel. However, reports suggest that Azerbaijani oil, which is shipped to Israel from the Ceyhan oil terminal in Turkey, was still getting through a few days later, possibly because companies will have three months “to fulfill existing orders via third countries” according to Reuters. (Articles and other sources: CNN, X.com and Reuters.) Relevance to Cyprus: if a ban on oil exports ends up slowing the Israeli economy this would affect Cyprus, as Israel is now the second largest tourism market and is attracting investment via companies setting up on the island.
EU and AML. The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced on 2 May that “supervisors across the European Union (EU) will be able to report names of natural persons to EuReCA, the EU central database on anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) of the European Banking Authority (EBA)”. (Article source: EBA.) Relevance to Cyprus: AML efforts are being increasingly centralized and this is will be another squeeze on those who brought the name of Cyprus into disrepute. The heat is already on. As reported in the monthly Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus reports, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation is already getting directly involved in efforts to tackle financial crime in Cyprus.
Have you subscribed to Cyprus Pocket Brief?
This is the executive summary of the flagship Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus report—a peak into what prestigious subscribers get with a full subscription. Cyprus Pocket Brief is now a paid subscription which you can find here.
Links to the free-to-read Sapienta Cyprus Reflections series
· Cyprus tourism: the unlikely biggest-spending country 12 Apr 2024
· Cyprus interest rates: how do they compare? 21 Feb 2024
· Green finance: how will it affect your business? 25 Jan 2024
· How to bring the people into a Cyprus peace process, 18 May 2023
· Three mega trends to define the decade, 11 May 2023
· Cypriots and sanctions: lessons for other professionals in Cyprus, 18 Apr 2023
· Cyprus and security: it’s time to change the toolbox, 14 Feb 2023
· What do we know about Turkish Cypriot banks? 4 Jan 2023
· How much is Russian business worth to Cyprus? 12 Dec 2022
· The amazing Cyprus growth machine 17 Nov 2022
You can find a full list of all posts here.