Anastasiades in Davos to talk politics and business

By Evie Andreou

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades arrived in Davos on Wednesday to attend the 45th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum and to rub shoulders with political and business leaders.

The government had announced last week that one of the reasons for Anastasiades’ participation at the summit was to inform political leaders of the Turkish provocations within the Cyprus exclusive economic zone that prompted him to pull out of the peace talks.

He is also expected to elaborate on the government’s frustration by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s report for the renewal of the UNFICYP mandate that did not condemn Turkey’s actions and for making explicit reference to Turkish Cypriots’ isolation — a subject that has not come up for several years.

According to reports, Anastasiades has already had a meeting with the chief executive of the Italian energy company ENI, Claudio Descalzi and according to CyBC, he also met with the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide.

This year, a record number of participants will attend the World Economic Forum, whose theme is “The New Global Context”, and reflects the current situation on the political, economic, social and technological changes.

Around 40 heads of state and government are expected to attend, as well as 1,500 business leaders from over 100 countries.

In total, the forum organisers have invited over 800 participants from the public sector and civil society. Among others, there will also be 14 Nobel Laureates.

After six years of absence from the annual event, Turkey is making a comeback this year, in its capacity as the presiding country of the G20.

In the 2009 meeting in Davos, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Prime minister at the time, had stormed off the stage during a panel discussion on Middle East peace when during a heated debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Gaza, the moderator of the discussion tried to cut him off.

“From today, Davos is finished for me. I will not come back,” were his last words while leaving the panel.

Instead, Turkish Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Davos on Wednesday, accompanied by members of his government.

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.