Day: December 8, 2022

Vehicle registrations increased yearly by 7.2% in November 2022, according to a report published on Thursday by the Statistical Service. Total registrations of vehicles in November numbered 2,522, compared to 2,353 in November 2021. Passenger saloon cars registered a rise of 7.6% to 1,857, from 1,726 in November 2021.

November saw a big increase in new vehicle registrations, up 18.1% on November 2021, with 1,357 new vehicles, compared to 1,149 last year. In contrast, used vehicle registrations fell by 3.2%, dropping from 1,204 in November 2021 to 1,165 in November 2022.

During the period January-November 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021 total registrations of motor vehicles decreased by 3.4% to 31,584, from 32,698. Passenger saloon cars decreased to 24,902 from 25,067 in January-November 2021, recording a fall of 0.7%. Of the total passenger saloon cars, 10,837 or 43.5% were new and 14,065 or 56.5% were used cars. Rental cars in particular recorded a rise of 69.2% to 3.888.

Motor coaches and buses registered in January-November 2022 increased to 84, from 50 in the same period of 2021. Goods conveyance vehicles decreased by 5.9% to 3,564 in January-November 2022, compared to 3,789 in January-November 2021. In particular, light goods vehicles decreased by 0.2% to 2,874, heavy goods vehicles by 17.9% to 352, road tractors (units of trailers) by 53.2% to 80 and rental vehicles by 16.2% to 258.

Mopeds < 50cc registered in January-November 2022 increased to 237 compared to 235 in the corresponding period of the previous year, while motorbikes > 50cc decreased by 22.7% to 2,452 in January-November 2022, compared to 3,173 in January-November 2021.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Presidential Commissioner, Photis Photiou, had on Thursday a meeting in Nicosia with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Photiou and Pizzabala discussed issues concerning the Latin community in Cyprus and underlined the strong ties and the long-standing friendship which unites the people of Cyprus with the Latins, according to a press release.

Photiou noted that the Latins are a fundamental element of the Cypriot society, and have their own schools, cultural centres and churches so that young people can get to know their history, customs and traditions. He assured of the continuous and steadfast support of himself and the government to the community.

Moreover, Photiou briefed the Patriarch about the humanitarian issue of missing persons, an issue which President Nicos Anastasiades discussed with Pope Francis during his recent Vatican visit. The Commissioner asked for the help of the Patriarch and the Holy See to solve this problem, which causes for 48 years now pain to hundreds of bereaved families, underlining that the current stagnation affects in a negative way the achievement of progress and efforts to solve it.

The Commissioner also referred to issue related to the destruction of religious and cultural heritage in the occupied areas of Cyprus and to issues regarding the enclaved.

Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa thanked the Commissioner and the government for their support and assured that he will support in every way he can efforts to bring peace both to Cyprus and the broader Mediterranean region.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.

A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The current government has promoted the most projects and actions on sustainable mobility issues, Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yiannis Karousos said on Thursday, speaking at the 7th Conference on Sustainable Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems held on December 8 and 9 in Nicosia.

In relation to air transport, Karousos said that Cyprus has been added to two corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network, the Western Balkans corridor (Cyprus, Greece, Balkans, Croatia, Italy, Austria) and the Black Sea, Aegean and Baltic Sea corridor, which starts from Cyprus and ends in Helsinki and connects to Mariupol in Ukraine and Moldova, thus sending many geopolitical messages.

Cyprus also achieved the expansion of its internal road network with the inclusion of the Paleochori-Agros motorway in the Trans-European Transport Network, Karousos added, while the city of Larnaca was included in the major urban centres along with Nicosia and Limassol due to the partial occupation of the capital and the existence of the airport outside it.

The biggest challenges relate to the area of sustainable mobility, Transport Minister said, noting that the current generation will pay a heavy price for a better future for the next one. Focusing on the aviation sector, he said that Cyprus has promoted an EU-level tool which provides support to airlines to achieve their targets, while reducing the negative impact of the cost of compliance with the new fuel and refueling standards for air carriers.

Technology and transport systems play a very important role, continued Karousos, with Cyprus already having installed cameras and sensors on motorways to manage traffic and automatically inform drivers, adding that a tender will be launched this month for the so-called “smart traffic lights” to manage traffic in Nicosia and Limassol using artificial intelligence, with an estimated improvement in traffic flow of between 15% and 35% with the use of technology alone.

For her part, Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry Natasa Pilides said that sustainable mobility belongs to the broader context of the need to adopt immediate actions to achieve the transition to green energy, noting that Cyprus has been making rapid strides in recent years to achieve its climate goals, particularly in transport.

In the field of sustainable transport, Pilides said that there is a Ministry of Energy grant scheme of €1.5 million in force until the end of 2023 for the installation of photovoltaic systems in homes for charging electric or hybrid vehicles, interest in which has been boosted by the Ministry of Transport’s scheme for the purchase of electric vehicles.

Another very important aspect concerns biofuels, the Energy Minister continued, with the biofuel market recording increasing trends in recent years and the share of biofuel in the conventional fuel mix reaching 7.3%, which translates into an 8% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the road transport sector compared to 2005. She added that from 2014 onwards the majority of biofuel consumed in Cyprus is produced from processed cooking oil.

On behalf of the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriacos Kokkinos, the Permanent Secretary of the Deputy Ministry Stelios Chimonas focused in his address on the digital component of sustainability and development goals, which is also the main part of the “Cyprus-Tomorrow” Plan.

The national effort of the Deputy Ministry for the development of Smart Cities across Cyprus is also part of the above framework, continued Chimonas, a project of 35 million euros that has been included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan and which utilises technological solutions and digital data to address key challenges facing Cypriot cities today (pollution, energy consumption, citizen participation).

On behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis, Environment Officer Lakis Mesimeris referred in his welcome address to the new legislative provisions on the additional costs of conventional fuel, with the inclusion of road transport, buildings, aviation and maritime transport in a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, costs that will be borne by the economy mainly through increased freight rates, and noted that in cooperation with the relevant ministers it was possible to recognize certain specificities of Cyprus and ensure appropriate tools to address the challenges, such as the recognition of the isolated system and the favorable regulation for sustainable aviation fuels.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Foreign Minister, Ioannis Kasoulides, will participate on Monday in the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels that will discuss among others developments in Ukraine following the Russian invasion and will evaluate the EU coordinated reaction, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Demetris Demetriou.

Moreover, EU Foreign Ministers will discuss about the internal situation and the human rights in Iran. The EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, will refer, among others, to the Southern Neighbourhood, in view of the strategic discussion that will take place at the forthcoming European Council and to the EU support to Moldavia, Demetriou told CNA.

He said that before the Council’s meeting the Foreign Ministers will have a working breakfast regarding the future of the Eastern Partnership. The annual ministerial meeting on the Eastern Partnership will take place on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council, with the participation of Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

During his stay in Brussels, Kasoulides will have bilateral meetings with his counterparts.

After that, Demetriou said, he will travel to Paris to participate in the high level conference entitled “Standing with the Ukrainian people” that will take place on December 13. The conference is co-organised by President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The current EU energy and economic challenges will primarily be discussed at the Summit of the nine EU Mediterranean member states (EUMED9) which will take place on Friday in Alicante, Spain, with the participation of Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, Government Spokesman, Marios Pelekanos has said in a written statement.

Pelekanos noted that apart from the Prime Minister of Spain, who is hosting the Summit, the leaders of Greece, France, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Croatia and Slovenia will also attend it.

The Summit will primarily deal with the current EU energy and economic challenges and ways of coordination of the Mediterranean partners of the EU will be sought, with a view to secure a powerful European response to these challenges, taking into consideration the interests of the Mediterranean, Pelekanos added.

He also said that among the main issues on the agenda are those related to the role of the Mediterranean for the Future of Europe, the EU strategic autonomy focusing on the energy sector and the future of the EU economic governance.

The exchange of views on the energy strategic autonomy of the EU will focus on the measures taken and that could tackle the rapid increase of the energy and electricity price, both at the EU and the national level. Moreover, it will focus on the efforts underway to lift dependency on Russia and to find alternative resources for the EU, among which are the prospects for a pipeline at the Eastern Mediterranean and the electric interconnections, via which renewable energy resources as well as other types of green energy, as hydrogen, can be used.

Pelekanos said that the leaders will also discuss the future of the EU economic governance, in light of the high inflation indexes and generally the economic pressure which the EU member states are facing and will seek solutions that could be given at the European level, in the framework of the fiscal policy.

The leaders will make statements to the media after the conclusion of the Summit on Friday evening.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said that the failure of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council to reach an agreement on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen, as well as the lack of agreement on forwarding a proposed regulation on the instrumentalisation of migration to the European Parliament are “actions that do not serve European solidarity”, speaking soon after the end of the first day of the JHA Council in Brussels.

“Today was not the best day for European solidarity,” Nouris said. “The decision not to allow Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area, but even more so the reluctance of a number of member states to promote the regulation on the instrumentalisation of migration to the European Parliament, are actions that do not serve European solidarity,” he noted.

“In particular regarding the issue of the instrumentalisation regulation, an extremely important regulation for Cyprus, is that once again Turkey is left beyond reproach and that is something which is of particular concern to us”, Nouris explained.

“I hope that the decision to continue negotiations, which will obviously take place during the Swedish Presidency, will provide the opportunity for a number of Member States to change their position and push this regulation forward,” he stressed.

Nouris thanked the Czech Presidency for its strong support for Cypriot positions.

During the discussions regarding Schengen, Cyprus was represented by Justice Minister Stephi Drakou, who will also represent Cyprus on the second day of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on Friday.

Source: Cyprus News Agency