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Cyprus and Romania seek to expand cooperation

05/04/2019 15:30

Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou and Romania’s Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia-Elena Intoreto have decided to expand their cooperation on diaspora matters in order to promote investment and tourism and bring their respective communities abroad closer to each other.
 
Photiou and Intoreto held their third meeting on diaspora matters, in Nicosia, on Friday. They also announced that the first trilateral meeting among Cyprus, Greece and Romania will take place soon.
 
“This is our third meeting on diaspora matters and it is clear that there are important issues on which the two countries could work” said Photiou, speaking to the press after his meeting with Intoreto. He noted that there are 40 to 45 thousand Romanians in Cyprus, while Cyprus ranks 4th in investments in Romania. He also said that both countries have strong communities abroad, such as in the United Kingdom, the US, Australia, Canada, where they could work together.
 
“For this reason, today, we made some decisions on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding” that was signed in Romania recently “and we will move on with joint events of our youth abroad”, he added. The first such event is expected to take place in London, while another big event will take place in Cyprus to present the cultures of the two countries with the participation of the Romanian community and the Cypriot youth.
 
Photiou noted that they would also invite Cypriot and Romanian entrepreneurs living abroad to engage in an attempt to promote investment opportunities in the two countries.
 
Furthermore, it has been decided to promote the two countries as tourist destinations, in the framework of their cooperation.
 
The Presidential Commissioner also announced that the first trilateral meeting on diaspora matters among Greece, Cyprus and Romania would take place in the near future. Such cooperation, he said, is being planned also with Jordan, Lebanon and Portugal.
 
Intoreto said that there is a “strong” Romanian community in Cyprus of more than 37,000 people, adding that “today we had another important meeting and we want to do more together for our communities”.