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Deputy Minister: Our aim is to further develop Cyprus shipping

14/03/2023 10:10

The Deputy Ministry of Shipping and the Cyprus Shipping Chamber have reaffirmed during the first meeting held between the new Deputy Minister of Shipping Marina Hadjimanolis with members of the Chamber, that they will fully cooperate in the efforts to further develop the Cypriot shipping industry.

In her statements after the meeting that was held on Monday in the Chamber's headquarters, the Deputy Minister said that she assured the Chamber's Board of Directors that the Deputy Ministry will work together to take the Cypriot shipping even higher.

Cyprus, she said, although a small island, it is ranked 3rd in Europe and 11th globally in the shipping industry and noted the importance of continuing the cooperation with the Chamber, thanking it for the cooperation since the establishment of the Deputy Ministry. 

Our goals, she continued, include the further development of Cypriot shipping "in difficult times for Cyprus, with the sanctions we have experienced in recent years" and reiterated that "with everyone's cooperation we will work to address these difficulties which we have had in the last year with the war in Ukraine".

Welcoming, the new Deputy Minister on behalf of the Board, CEO of the Chamber, Thomas Kazakos, expressed the Chamber's satisfaction for her "strong will to continue the cooperation that existed in the past with the Deputy Ministry of Shipping."

During the meeting, he added, they discussed issues such as how to improve the services for the shipping companies, such as through the one-stop service, the completion of the digitization of the Deputy Ministry of Shipping, wider European and international issues, such as the decarbonization of shipping, the issue of illegal Turkish embargo on Cypriot-flagged ships and the efforts of the new government to improve the competitiveness of the shipping sector.

Concluding, he recalled that the contribution of the shipping industry reaches 7% of the GDP, while similar sectors benefit financially.