Cyprus poised to cash in on diplomatic thaw with Libya

By Jean Christou

CYPRUS is on the road to renewing lucrative trade ties with Libya following the cabinet’s decision to fall into line with the suspension of UN sanctions on the north African country.

Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis told the Cyprus Mailthat an official delegation, headed by him, had already visited Tripoli.

“We met five ministers and other important people and it appears that we are ready to re-establish relations,” Rolandis said. “We were among the first to visit them.”

Cyprus suspended seven years of sanctions in line with the UN’s decision to do so in April after Libya handed over the suspects for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The UN sanctions were imposed in 1992.

Britain has also this week re-established ties with Tripoli, but the US won’t budge on its embargo on Libya.

An official government announcement said that — in line with the EU’s position — Cyprus had not suspended sanctions relating to the export of arms and military equipment.

It has also retained restrictions in the movement of diplomatic personnel and a strict procedure in the issuing of visas.

Trade between the two countries is, however, expected to boom in the coming months. Rolandis said exports to Libya were once worth $70-80 million. They mainly consisted of clothing and footwear, he said.

Rolandis said although these sectors had declined in the last seven years, there were several other products Libya was now interested in buying, such as machinery and solar heaters.

He said the Ministry was organising a trade delegation to Libya to further cement business ties at the end of September.

Another area where contacts may be resumed is air transport.

Although there was no answer from the Libyan Arab Airlines offices in Nicosia, Cyprus Airways (CY) said it would probably look into the possibility of re-establishing air links.

“We are interested in flying to Libya in the future,” said CY spokesman Tassos Angelis. “But we would have to study the situation first and see if there was a market demand.”

He said CY used to fly to Tripoli. “We have to see if there is still an interest,” he said.

A spokesman at the Libyan embassy in Nicosia declined to comment on new relations between the two countries.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.