The Week in Cyprus, 9 Oct 2023
Collated news links of interest to ‘outsiders looking in’
As you can probably tell, what goes into my Substack is an ever-evolving project. Today, partly to force me to post every week, I am starting The Week in Cyprus: collated news links for ‘outsiders looking in’. This means I won’t be covering all news, just things that have a bearing on the investment climate or international relations, including any significant moves on the Cyprus problem. Since this is the first one, I am starting ‘the week’ a little more than seven days ago.
Economy: full investment grade at last. On Friday 29 September Moody’s Investors Service finally placed the Republic of Cyprus credit rating back into investment grade rating. Perhaps acknowledging that it was far later than other agencies to do so, it upgraded Cyprus by two notches to Baa2. (Source: StockWatch.) The potential upgrade was noted in the May issue of my in-depth Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus report.
Energy: boost to EuroAsia? The EuroAsia Interconnector Project to link Israel, Cyprus and Greece via a high-voltage underwater electricity cable has a new manager. On Friday 6 October EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd and the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece, also known as ADMIE, announced that that they had reached an agreement for IPTO/ADMIE “to become Project Promoter of the Electricity Interconnection between Greece, Cyprus and Israel”. (Source: EuroAsia Interconnector website.) The September Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus report noted that this was in the works.
Energy/Cyprus problem: what did Turkey really say? Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, was widely reported by Greek Cypriot media as having suggested on Wednesday 4 October that there should joint exploitation by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots of hydrocarbons offshore Cyprus. We tracked down the Turkish original and did not find an explicit suggestion about natural gas. He said, “it is possible to use the energy potential that both parties will benefit from equally, without having to wait for a political solution”. (Source: Türkiye Gazetesi). But I don’t speak Turkish, so feel free to comment if I missed something. I have a backgrounder on maritime issues around Cyprus on the Sapienta Substack here and will be going into more detail on this issue in the October issue of Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus.
Cyprus problem: UN envoy? After six years in the deep freeze, the Cyprus problem might be slowly cranking into gear with efforts to appoint a UN envoy. Republic of Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday 8 October that he had agreed to an appointment. (Source: Cyprus Mail.) An actual appointment needs the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey to be on board too. I cover the Cyprus problem in-depth every month in Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus.
Cyprus-Russia relations. In another sign of the significant shift in Cyprus-Russia relations since the start of the war in Ukraine, Cyprus detained a Russian journalist based at the Russian embassy on Thursday 5 October and then deported him. (Source: Financial Mirror.)
Israel/Lebanon evacuation. Cyprus is the first safe place for evacuations from the region. Earlier this year it transported hundreds of evacuees from Sudan. Over the weekend of 7-8 October it started gearing up for evacuations from Israel or Lebanon. (Source: Cyprus Mail.)