Day: July 5, 2022

<description>

UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart is hosting on Tuesday evening a reception for the co-chairs of the Bicommunal Technical Committees, to offer support and encouragement. Menelaos Menelaou, the Greek Cypriot Negotiator, is also attending the event.

“Top @UN official in #Cyprus, Colin Stewart, hosts a reception for co-chairs of the Technical Committees, also attended by Greek Cypriot Negotiator, @m_menelaou and Turkish Cypriot Special Representative, Ergün Olgun, to offer support and encouragement. #UNCyprusTalks,” the UN in Cyprus posted on Twitter.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of UN-brokered talks took place in Crans Montana, Switzerland in July 2017 but ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

</description>

Seven international companies were awarded at the 10th Invest Cyprus International Investment Awards for their contribution to the development of the Cypriot economy

The 10th Invest Cyprus International Investment Awards, which took place at Parklane Hotel, Limassol, rewarded foreign investors who entrusted our country as an ideal location in developing their business case for investment in Cyprus. Important business figures, as well as members of the political and state leadership of the country participated at the prestigious event, which was held under the auspices of the President of the Republic.

The impact of foreign investments is of pivotal importance for the sustainable development of the Cyprus economy, while at the same time, existing investors act as ambassadors of Cyprus, contributing to the effort made by Invest Cyprus to attract even more international companies to invest and develop their business case in our island.

The winners at this year’s event included BrainRocket, CVC, ECOMMBX, Murex, SYKES (part of Sitel Group), TheSoul Publishing and Medicover.

During his welcome address, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, said, “we have proven the resilience of the Cyprus’ economy in times of crisis, both in 2013 and during the pandemic, and I have I no doubt that we will emerge even stronger from the current crisis we are facing. To this end, each one of you present tonight constitutes an integral part to this effort, particularly in establishing Cyprus as a reliable and attractive business hub, keen on providing the conditions under which any investor can thrive. In this demanding endeavour, we are grateful to have devoted and equally strong-willed allies, such as Invest Cyprus, which has been operating as credible and reliable partner throughout our efforts’’

On behalf of Invest Cyprus, the Chairmanof the organization, Mr Evgenios Evgeniou said, “at Invest Cyprus, we are confident that, in line with the Vision Cyprus 2035, the international business clusters will continue to grow in the years to come, adding more niche areas, contributing to several economic sectors and enhancing the investability of greenfield projects”. He also reiterated that Invest Cyprus, with the support of the Ministry of Finance and in cooperation with all the ministries, will reinforce the promotional actions abroad to attract foreign direct investment and at the same time act as a single point of contact offering facilitation and support to existing and potential international investors.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cyprus Institute led a strategic proposal to establish a European Digital Innovation Hub in Cyprus (“DiGiNN” project).

The project was selected for EU funding, having received full marks (15/15) and ranked third in Europe among several hundred submitted proposals, a press release by the CyI says.

“This tremendous achievement is the latest in a string of CyI’s successful results in national and EU competitive calls, bringing further distinction and recognition to CyI’s important role as a regional Center of Excellence”, the press release says.

DiGiNN is a strategic partnership of thirteen prestigious Cypriot organisations in the fields of high technology, research and entrepreneurship, under the coordination of The Cyprus Institute, established to accelerate the digital transformation of small and medium enterprises and the public sector through the provision of specialized services.

In addition to The Cyprus Institute, the following organisations also participate in the consortium: the Center of Excellence CYENS as co-coordinator, the Center of Excellence KIOS, PWC, and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (with the local chambers) as Work package leaders, several Schools and Units of the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus University of Technology, the Employers and Industrialists Federation, ELECTI, IDEA Innovation Center, Cyprus Seeds, Chrysalis Leap, Paphos Innovation Institute, and the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics.

The headquarters of the Hub will be at The Cyprus Institute and CYENS. At the same time, all the partners’ premises will host the Hub’s activities and the provision of services to companies and public organisations.

DiGiNN will be co-financed by the European Commission (through the Digital Europe Programme 2021-2027) and the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. It will run for three years, renewable for additional four years.

All CyI Centres, facilities and labs will contribute to the Hub by promoting their technical services and know-how, generating new technologies for new business ventures, making their equipment and testbeds available to external users, networking with companies, public organisations and ministry departments, networking with investors, incubators and similar organisations.

Coordination of the proposal was undertaken by the Office of the Director of Research and Technical Support and the Research and Innovation Management Support Office of the Institute, in close collaboration with the CyI Centres, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Office and the High-Performance Computing Facility.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Intelligent power management company Eaton today announced its involvement in a pan-European research and innovation project to deliver the integrated technologies and business models needed to support mass deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“Our work on integrating charging infrastructure into buildings is supporting the rapid move to electric vehicles as part of the energy transition and we’re very proud to be investing heavily in the people, technologies, and programs to accelerate the global drive towards a low-carbon future.”

Tweet this

Supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program, the €9.87M ($10.41M) project will span four years to March 2026, its scope covering the entire electric vehicle charging value chain. The FLOW project consortium, which includes 24 external partners and six leading universities across Europe, will be led by the Fundació Institut De Recerca En Energia De Catalunya.

Eaton’s role in the consortium will involve further developing electric vehicle charging technologies, as well as demonstrating electric vehicle charging solutions, based on experience advancing its Buildings as a Grid approach to uniting the power needs of buildings and electric vehicles with on-site renewable energy generation.

The research and innovation focus will extend across vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities that enable more system flexibility; DC-DC charging (direct current to direct current) that yields both power quality and control benefits; and further work on Eaton’s proprietary Buildings as a Grid Energy Management System that supports forecasting, optimization, and other essential services. To combine the various technologies into a complete solution, several Eaton business units will collaborate on the project—including the pan-European Eaton Research Labs team and the Eaton Center for Intelligent Power in Dublin, Ireland.

Stefan Costea, regional technology manager, Eaton Research Labs, said: “As electric vehicles grow in popularity across Europe, a comprehensive range of fully integrated charging technologies is urgently needed to support mass deployment and enable valuable new services. As a key partner in the FLOW project, we’re thrilled to be developing optimal solutions for electric vehicle charging, V2G, V2X, and energy management. We will demonstrate these technologies at three test labs—at the Eaton European Innovation Center in Prague, at University College Dublin, and at the Fundació Institut De Recerca En Energia De Catalunya, in Barcelona. Additionally, we will be supporting large scale technology demonstrations in Rome and Copenhagen with our energy management systems.”

For the demonstrations in Prague and Barcelona, Eaton will be collaborating closely with Heliox, a market leader in fast charging solutions. University College Dublin and nearby Maynooth University will work with Eaton in Ireland, while RWTH Aachen University, in Germany, will partner with Eaton in Prague on a techno-economic analysis of electric vehicle charging infrastructure use cases. In Rome and Copenhagen, Eaton will collaborate on energy management system interoperability with companies well-known for transmission and distribution: ENEL, Terna, and Areti, in addition to partners at Ricerca Sul Sistema Energetico and the Technical University of Denmark.

Tim Darkes, President, Corporate and Electrical, EMEA, Eaton, explained the context for Eaton’s involvement in the FLOW consortium, saying: “Our work on integrating charging infrastructure into buildings is supporting the rapid move to electric vehicles as part of the energy transition and we’re very proud to be investing heavily in the people, technologies, and programs to accelerate the global drive towards a low-carbon future.”

Jörgen von Bodenhausen, senior manager, Government Programs, Eaton, also added: “We continually seek out opportunities to combine our global scale and expertise with that of world-class industrial and academic partners, thus magnifying our own innovation efforts. From building-in energy management, to DC-DC charging, our work on the FLOW project will help pioneer new solutions to accelerate the commercialization and mass deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and create whole new value propositions for both companies and customers.”

About Eaton

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power – today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy, helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges, and doing what’s best for our stakeholders and all of society.

Founded in 1911, Eaton has been listed on the NYSE for nearly a century. We reported revenues of $19.6 billion in 2021 and serve customers in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos is in Athens to participate in the 26th Annual Economist Roundtable between 5-6 July, a press release by the Deputy Ministry says.

Kokkinos will take place in a panel discussion titled “Digital transformations in the pipeline” and along with the General Secretary of Digital Governance and Procedures at Ministry of Digital Governance of Greece, Leonidas Christopoulos and senior fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich Efi Vagena will debate with representatives of the international business community on the international trends, challenges and developments as regards digital transformation.

The panel will also discuss the challenges in the post-pandemic era and the role of the digital and green transformation for sustainable and resilient economies.

On the sidelines of the Conference the Cyprus Deputy Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with counterparts, government officials and representatives of the international entrepreneurs’ community.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cyprus Rare Birds Committee confirmed the Akrotiri Environmental and Education Centre’s record of an African Desert Warbler, on April 19 last year, and accepted and officially recognised it as the first of its species in Cyprus.

A press release says that the African Desert Warbler is traditionally a sedentary bird, better known for living on the breeding grounds of north-west Africa and not in the Cyprus climate.

Having initially submitted the record last year, the good news was confirmed to Dr Thomas Hadjikyriakou, the manager at the Akrotiri Environmental Centre, at the end of April this by the Cyprus Rare Birds Committee and he is not surprisingly delighted with the decision.

Explaining the effort that went in to having the species officially recognised, he said that the African Desert Warblerwas recorded on the west of the Peninsula when it was seen feeding within Juniper maquis and Mediterranean phrygana, primarily on Phoenicean juniper and Thyme shrubs.

“The observation lasted for about two hours, during which the species was monitored and photographed.” he said.

The African Desert Warbler is a small bird with a length of 11.5 centimetres and breeds on semi-arid areas from the Western Sahara, to West Libya.

Dr Hadjikyriakou said the bird prefers “sandy deserts sparsely vegetated with low shrubs and grasses and it feeds mostly on small insects and some berries and seeds, foraging mostly on the ground and low vegetation”.

Putting into context the significance of the discovery, he continued: “This is a new species for Cyprus, and one that was not expected to be seen on the island as it is a largely resident species, found within its normal distribution, about two thousand kilometres away from Cyprus.

“The Akrotiri Peninsula is considered an area that has been well-researched from a bird perspective but still new species are discovered, highlighting the need for further intensifying bird research.”

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides highlighted the importance of trilateral and multilateral partnerships, in which Greece and Cyprus participate, for ensuring regional stability, during the Economist conference in Greece.

During his remarks at the panel discussion “Effective diplomacy in unstable times: The European Strategy for Peace and Stability”, Kasoulides stressed that Greece and Cyprus have been cooperating diligently for the last ten years to build a network within which all regional countries can cooperate harmoniously and to mutual benefit.

In this context, he noted that Greece’s and Cyprus’ cooperation partnerships signal a very successful model, to the extent that other countries are willing to join them.

He also made special reference to the “3+1” cooperation scheme between Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and the United States, noting that during the last Summit at the level of Foreign Ministers specific goals were agreed for the deepening of this partnership.

Cypriot Foreign Minister noted that in contrast to the regional actors that promote stability, respect for international law, and cooperation, there is “one regional actor that is trying to freeze this paradigm of regional cooperation”.

“Is Ankara interested in a rules-based regional order or is it playing a zero-sum game in an attempt to dominate regionally at the expense of others?” he asked, underlining the need not to be under illusions on such issues.

Referring to the cataclysmic developments brought about by the war in Ukraine, Kasoulides highlighted the importance of EU’s unified approach, noting however that there are weaknesses to the European stance. As he said, it is important that the EU acknowledges its strengths, while limiting its weaknesses.

As regards the Western Balkans, Kasoulides argued in favor of their accession to the European Union, also stressing their responsibility for reforms that this perspective implies.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Digital Services Package sets out a first comprehensive rulebook for the online platforms that we all depend on in our daily lives. These new rules will be applicable across the whole of the EU and will create a safer and more open digital space, grounded in respect for fundamental rights.

Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, said: “The European Parliament has adopted a global first: Strong, ambitious regulation of online platforms. The Digital Services Act enables the protection of users’ rights online. The Digital Markets Act creates fair, open online markets. As an example, illegal hate speech can also be dealt with online. And products bought online must be safe. Big platforms will have to refrain from promoting their own interests, share their data with other businesses, enable more app stores. Because with size comes responsibility – as a big platform, there are things you must do and things you cannot do.”

Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said: “10 years ago, a page was turned on ‘too big to fail’ banks. Now — with DSA and DMA — we’re turning the page on ‘too big to care’ platforms. We are finally building a single digital market, the most important one in the ‘free world’. The same predictable rules will apply, everywhere in the EU, for our 450 million citizens, bringing everyone a safer and fairer digital space.”

The adoption of the Digital Services Package in the first reading by the European Parliament follows the political agreement that has been reached by the co-legislators on the Digital Markets Act on 24 March and the Digital Services Act on 23 April this year. The new rules will be enforced by the Commission for the largest online platforms active in the EU. The Commission is taking all necessary steps to be ready to take up this role upon the entry into force of the rules.

Next Steps

Following the adoption of the Digital Services Package in the first reading by the European Parliament, both texts now have to be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union. After their signature, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act will be published in the Official Journal. Both acts will enter into force 20 days after their publication in the Official Journal, in autumn this year.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Deputy Minister to the President Petros Demetriou is undergoing heart surgery, Government Spokesperson Marios Pelekanos said on Tuesday.

In a written statement, Pelekanos said that Demetriou was transported by ambulance to a Nicosia hospital after having felt unwell.

He added that following a number of tests and on the basis of the results of a coronary angiography it was decided that he should immediately undergo surgery, which is taking place now.

More information will be released once the operation has finished, he said.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

According to a press release, on Friday, December 23, 2022 the Minister of the Interior will issue a decree announcing the elections, while Tuesday, December 27, 2022 will be the last date to register in the electoral list as well as for submitting a declaration for voting in the polling stations abroad.

Thursday the 5th of January 2023 candidacies for the elections will be submitted and a month later, on Sunday the 5th of February 2023 the elections will take place. In case there is need for a second round, it will take place a week later, on Sunday the 12th of February 2023.

All citizens of the Republic who are 18 years old and over, have their usual residence in Cyprus and are registered in the electoral list, have the right to vote. Citizens who will reach the age of 18 by February 5, 2023, have the right to be registered in the list. More information at www.moi.gov.cy.

Regarding polling stations abroad, whoever wants to vote and resides in countries where Cyprus has a diplomatic mission, can submit a statement from October 3, 2022 until December 27, 2022. It is clarified that polling stations may only operate in those cities abroad, where the number of voters who will submit a declaration exceeds 50.

Source: Cyprus News Agency