Commercial, economic and tourism ties

The UK is Cyprus’ main trading partner. British companies play an active role in a number of public sector projects as consultants, project managers, financiers and contractors. These include the Vathia Gonia project for waste management managed by Biwater and the Larnaca and Paphos airports projects on a Build Operate Transfer basis for which Price Waterhouse Cooper was the consultant to the Ministry of Communications and Works The Royal Bank of Scotland the main banker for the project. Meanwhile Vodafone has signed a partnership agreement with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA).

The UK is Cyprus’ main source of tourists and therefore a number of UK consulting firms specialising in tourism and leisure are used by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) as well as Cypriot tourist companies. UK legal firms have been advising CTO on matters of casinos and gambling.

During the year the British High Commission organises key events to market individual companies and organisations with a strong UK brand name, such as British Airways and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The High Commission actively supports the newly established Cyprus - UK Business Association and continues to look for further opportunities for UK companies to do business with Cyprus.

Public procurement

A seminar on the EU’s public procurement regime was delivered by UK experts in Nicosia on 3 March 2006. The seminar was attended by both government officials and Cypriot businesses offering goods and services to the government. The seminar was organised by the British High Commission in association with the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus.

Public private partnerships

Following a request from the Planning Bureau for UK expertise on Public Private Partnerships, two officials attended a Partnerships UK Foundation course on 6-14 March 2007. (The course is designed for those committed to modernising the delivery of public services. It is an intensive technical course for PPP taskforces and gives a public sector perspective on how to prepare PPP projects for the market, manage the evaluation process and develop a successful programme.)

On 6 September 2007, the British High Commission and the Planning Bureau organised a joint seminar on Public Private Partnerships, attended by stakeholders from both the public and private sector. The focus of the seminar was on identifying and prioritising suitable PPP projects, as well as the practical aspects of implementing them effectively.

Tax fraud seminar

In February 2008 the British High Commission hosted a seminar on tax fraud attended by representatives from banks and several government departments.

Future plans

Minister of Finance Stavrakis will visit Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the UK as part of wider talks on co-operation on EU dossiers and competitiveness.

Education and culture

The UK and Cyprus have a strong and long-standing relationship on educational matters, particularly on higher education.

Following EU accession, more Cypriot undergraduates choose UK as their preferred country of studies.  The total number of Cypriot students in the UK during 2006/07 was 8,740 with an increase of 20.89% compared to 7,230 in 2005/06 in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The British Council managed more than 55,000 British exams in Cyprus in 2007/08 and run a series of training seminars for English language teachers in co-operation with Cambridge International Examinations and Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). They also organise award ceremonies for University of Cambridge International Examinations and Edexcel International where candidates are awarded world and country prizes. They commissioned UK Trade & Investment to do research into the market for employee training and development.

The British Council work with the Ministry of Education and Culture on the regional project Skills@Work which aims to link learning, work and enterprise across South East Europe in partnership with the UK.

They work with teachers’ unions to improve English language teaching in primary education in partnership with UNDP-ACT by providing training opportunities for primary teachers of English to improve their teaching skills in line with contemporary ELT methodology and improving their capacity with learning opportunities as well as sharing ideas, experiences and expertise with each other.

They deliver the Living Together regional project to focus on issues resulting from the increasingly diverse societies that have emerged as a result of migration and mobility, in particular: new migrant societies and their impact on society and minority communities and their participation in public life. The project includes an education component and materials have been produced for schools. There is also an arts component: the exhibition Close to Home is a collection of photographs and videos of displaced people in and around Europe. The exhibition will be shown in Cyprus in September 2008 with wrap-around activities to enhance its impact by involving students and raising awareness of minority and migration issues.

They have a modest sized arts programme and this year we have supported attendance by the Scottish Dance Theatre at the annual European Dance Festival in Limassol.

The British Council held a Summer Education UK Exhibition (Clearing) in August 2007 with 28 UK HE institutions and 1735 visitors. In November 2007 British Council held an Education Exhibition with 56 UK HE institutions and 5300 visitors. Both exhibitions were open to visitors for only two days.

This year there are Education Exhibitions in August and November. The Summer Education UK Exhibition in August takes place at St. Raphael Resort in Limassol with the participation of 28 UK higher education institutions. A pre-departure briefing seminar also takes place at St. Raphael Resort in Limassol as part of the Exhibition where students have the opportunity to find out more about travelling, studying and living in the UK.

The November Education UK Exhibition takes place in Nicosia. A number of seminars on the most popular subjects of study are offered as an integral part of the Exhibition.

Work and pensions

The UK’s Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Work and Pensions visited Cyprus from 13-17 September 2006 to discuss with the Ministry of Labour and other officials:

• Pensions Reform - including a presentation of the UK's Pensions White Paper
• Modernisation of the Public Employment Services (JobcentrePlus Rollout)
• Development of employment programmes for vulnerable groups - including a presentation of the UK's Welfare to Work Reform (Reform of
  Incapacity Benefit, Extension of Pathways to Work, Addressing Priority Groups (lone parents and older workers)
• Professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities - including a presentation of reform of Incapacity Benefit in the UK

A study visit by officials of the Ministry of Labour to the UK took place in July 2007 at the UK’s JobCentre+ model for getting more people into work.

Future plans

The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Department for Work and Pensions plan to jointly hold a seminar on vocational training and good practice in social welfare in autumn 2008.

Counter-terrorism

In March and May 2008, Scotland Yard “Counter Terrorism Security Advisers” provided a series of briefings to the tourist industry - tour company representatives, crisis managers and planners from the major tourist municipalities (Paphos etc.), and central government practitioners. They offer these presentations in all countries which are significant destinations for British tourists, under the general heading of “Project Argus”.

Football hooliganism

On the initiative of the High Commission, in response to the death of a Cypriot Police officer during disruption at a football match, and following agreement with the Ministry of Justice a high-level Task Force from Cyprus visited London for a study tour from 26-30 April 2006. The members of the Task Force were the Chief of Police, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, the Chairman of the Cyprus Athletic Organisation and the General Secretary of the Cyprus Football Federation. The delegation was briefed by UK Government departments and Police, the UK Football Association, as well as by Non-Governmental Organisations, on action taken in the UK to combat football-related violence.

Road safety

UK officials spoke at a road safety seminar in Cyprus on 20 February 2006, following a request made by the Minister of Communications and Works, Mr Thrasou, to the UK Minister of State for Transport, Dr Ladyman, in July 2005. The seminar, under the title "Life-long Training for Road Safety", was organised by the Ministry of Communications and Works in association with the UK Department of Transport and the British High Commission, with the participation of the Cyprus Police and the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Future plans

CyPol met with MetPol officers in London to discuss further co-operation in this area. Both policy officials from the Ministry of Transport and officers from CyPol could be sent to London to train with DfT and MetPol on road safety.

Migration, justice and home affairs

The UK Director responsible for Immigration in the Home Office, visited Cyprus on 16 December 2005 and met a wide range of Cypriot officials, headed by Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary, Lazaros Savvides, to discuss potential areas of co-operation.

Arising from an agreement at the above meeting, a senior delegation of immigration officials visited London to talk to experts to look at: reception centres; asylum/immigration legislation (eg marriages, detention, working rights); returns agreements, country of origin information.

Future plans

The UK/Cyprus Forum, an intergovernmental initiative, to discuss areas of mutual interest in ways that strengthen the bilateral relationship and collaboration within the EU is planned for 2009.

The British High Commission supported a short film by Cypriot filmmaker Yianna Americanou on the issue of human trafficking in Cyprus. The Film has been partly funded by the Cinema Advisory Committee of Cyprus (Ministry of Education and Culture) and SEE CINEMA NETWORK (Balkans Fund). The film may be screened on Cypriot Television as well as in cinemas and has been made available for screening at various events here on the island as well as abroad, bringing to the surface the issue of trafficking that exists in the island of Cyprus. This is the first time a film has been made about this subject in Cyprus by a Cypriot filmmaker.

In an example of “trilateral” cooperation between the UK, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior, an expert on human trafficking from the UK Human Trafficking Centre is coming to Cyprus this autumn to train sixty police officers in this increasingly important field.

Three Cypriot police officers attended a briefing in London in March 2008 organised by the European Commission and the London Metropolitan Police on how to bid to Brussels for police-work related funding.

The BHC supported two senior police officers’ attendance at a Youth Tourism Conference in Athens in February 2008 to share the UK’s experience of tackling youth crime in order to help police major tourist areas on the island.

Health

The Cyprus Anti Drugs Council, the MFA and the BHC will jointly organise a seminar for medical workers and NGOs on drugs harm reduction measures in early 2009.

Environment

A joint seminar was organised in March 2008 by BHC, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and PriceWaterhouseCoopers on Carbon Emissions. The seminar was an excellent platform for Cypriot officials to convince industry that they need to start acting now on their targets, as by 2012 it will be too late to do so.

Research and development

Areas of possible co-operation have been discussed at meetings between the High Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Cyprus Research Foundation and the Planning Bureau.  The British Council has also begun to forge links with the new University of Technology in Limassol.

A team from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry’s ‘Global Watch’ service – which aims to promote international co-operation in the area of technology – visited Cyprus from 12-14 June 2006 to discuss areas where co-operation could take place.

Representatives from the British High Commission, the British Council, the Research Promotion Foundation and the Planning Bureau will create a Joint Committee, aimed at facilitating contact between UK and Cypriot academics and academic institutions, and the implementation of joint programmes and projects.

A Research & Development Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 8 December 2008 between FCO, Cyprus Research Foundation and Planning Bureau.