TOP Cypriot and Chinese businessmen and diplomats gathered yesterday in China’s most populous city, Shanghai, at a high-profile conference to increase trade and investment between the two countries.
With the aid of translation devices, Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos pitched Cyprus as an ideal business centre for Shanghai, claiming that its “higher than EU-average growth rate of 3.8 per cent, low unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent, 2.6 per cent inflation, and an average per capita income of $22,000” offers many trade and investment opportunities for Chinese businessmen.
Papadopoulos also pointed to Cyprus’ low 10 per cent coporate tax rate, its strategic location between three continents, and its efforts to enhance tourism by providing incentives to investors for the development of four marinas and 11 golf courses, with commissioned efforts also under way for the construction of two new airports in Larnaca and Paphos.
The relatively low total trade volume between Cyprus and China, presently around $240 million – $225 million Chinese imports to Cyprus and $15 million Cypriot exports to China – suggests opportunities for increased financial collaboration between the two countries.
The dozens of Cypriot businessmen who travelled to China have come on a variety of missions, ranging from promoting legal services, to seeking cheap building materials for import, to pitching Cypriot goods for export, such as KEO wine as a potential official drink of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
With its around-the-clock construction and population of over 17.5 million (still growing despite a one-child policy and despite being closed, at least nominally, to internal migration), the business-minded city of Shanghai is undergoing one of the most radical and fastest economic expansions in human history; 2006 marks the 15th year that the development rate of Shanghai is over 10 per cent.
Papadopoulos said that by re-exporting via Cyprus, Chinese companies could reach 350 million citizens in neighbouring countries, and suggested joint construction projects between the two countries as well as combined Cyprus-Egypt tourist packages for Chinese tourists.
He referred to the establishment in Cyprus of a “Foreign Investors Service Centre”, a kind of “one-stop shop” to make it easier to start up a business in Cyprus, claiming that by March 2007 procedures would be in place so that a new business or company could be set up in Cyprus within seven days from the initial application.
He also said that the euro’s introduction in Cyprus in January 2008 would reduce the foreign exchange rate risk and the cost of foreign trade transactions, as well as ensure price transparency through increased competition and macroeconomic stability.
The President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Cen Furong, said that although geographically far apart, “Cyprus and China and connected in that they both have ancient cultures,” and predicted that the “island of Venus will… become a very popular destination among Shanghai residents.”
At the start of the conference, a short Cyprus Chamber of Congress film promoting Cyprus was shown. Vice President of the Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and Industry Andreas Louroutziades spoke of a “partnership of cultures”, and noted that “the progress of civilisation has nearly always seemed inextricably intertwined with the progress of commerce.”
Following his speech at the conference, Papadopoulos then visited a number of sites throughout Shanghai, including the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Urban Planning Exposition Centre, the Shanghai Museum, and the YuYuan Garden.
Also joining the president are his spouse, Fotini Papadopoulos, Finance Minster Michalis Sarris and Trade Minister Antonis Michaelides, among other officials.
On Monday, Papadopoulos met with the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Feng Guoquin. Today he is leaving for Beijing, where he will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the the National People’s Congress Wu Bangguo.
