Final decision on Limassol Conference Centre in coming weeks

THE final decision on whether the planned Limassol Conference Centre will be finished on time to host the 2012 Cypriot EU Presidency meetings and conferences will be reached within the month. A meeting between involved stakeholders and the Ministers of Commerce and Finance has been set for November 17, and a clear picture of when the conference centre will be ready is expected to emerge.

The upcoming meeting was arranged with the initiative of the Minister of Commerce Antonis Paschalides, who came under heavy criticism in Limassol for his proposal to build a conference centre for 2012 in Nicosia on the site of the old Philoxenia Hotel. The proposal, which Paschalides presented to Parliament last week, also referred to the construction of a luxury hotel on the grounds of derelict Philoxenia.

This caused a strong reaction from the Limassol Chamber of Commerce, EVEL, who felt it marked a clear break from the long-standing position of the previous and current administration that a new state-of-the-art conference centre would be built in Limassol to host Cypriot Presidency conferences and meetings.

In response to the criticism, Paschalides distinguished between the assurances made that a conference centre would be built in Limassol, and deciding where to host the EU Presidency. “I made no commitment to anyone regarding who would host the 2012 summit,” Paschalides said.

“The Ministry and the government care about all the towns, but none of them have exclusivity. The construction of conference centres will take place after the completion of studies and the government cannot commit from now as to where and how the projects will be carried out,” he added.

EVEL clarified that they did not object to the construction of conference centres in other towns, but that their disappointment stemmed from the state seemingly backing out from its promise to host the 2012 summit at the new Limassol conference centre.

“What bothered us was the specific reference at the House Finance Committee, which cancelled out all the efforts made for the immediate materialisation of the project in Limassol,” said Demetris Solomonides, President of EVEL.

Meanwhile, the decision on where to place the conference centre in Limassol has not been made yet.

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