Bulgarian bank in Cyprus

THE CENTRAL Bank of Cyprus has granted a banking business license to the ‘Central Cooperative Bank PLC’ of Bulgaria, to carry out banking business in Cyprus.

Central Cooperative Bank PLC’ was established in Bulgaria in 1991 with the aim of contributing to the further development of the country’s cooperative sector. The bank is now a member of the ‘Chimimport JSC’ group of companies, whose main activity is general trade.

Over the years, the bank has developed into a commercial bank which offers a wide range of financial products and services. The bank is a public company and its shares are traded on the Stock Exchange in Sofia.

There are currently 28 foreign credit institutions from 11 different countries operating in Cyprus. These include institutions from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Russia, Tanzania, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Russian visit

RUSSIAN Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandr Groushko will visit Cyprus on December 14 and 15 at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Sotos Zackheos. The issues to be discussed include the Cyprus question, bilateral relations in view of the visit of the Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos to the Russian Federation on 22 and 23 of January 2006, regional issues and the relations of the Russian Federation with the EU.

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.