Saudi Aramco shows interest in Cyprus EEZ

Cyprus said on Thursday that Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco has expressed a business interest in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to a government press release, the representatives of Saudi Aramco conveyed their interest in doing business in Cyprus’s EEZ during their meeting this week with Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis in Riyadh.

During the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of a visit to the Saudi capital by a Cypriot delegation led by President Nicos Anastasiades, the two sides agreed to explore new ways of cooperation.

The government press release said that the Saudis expressed their interests mainly because they highly rate the stability Cyprus affords as an EU member state with prospects of becoming an energy center.

Referring to the results of his visit this week to Riyadh, Anastasiades hailed what he described as the productive meeting with King Salman.

“The meeting was extremely productive and creative, always, to the benefit of the interests of the Cypriot people and our Saudi friends,” he said in an address to the staff of Joannou & Paraskevaides, a Cypriot company operating in Saudi Arabia. “This was the first visit by a Cypriot president to Saudi Arabia since 1960. I really feel happy that our targets are being implemented one after the other.”

The visit yielded a string of agreements, including ones for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of tax evasion signed by Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and the Saudi Arabian finance minister.

There was also a civil aviation deal signed by Cypriot Transport Minister Marios Demetriades and the minister of transport and president of the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority.

Kasoulides and the Saudi deputy foreign minister also signed a memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between the foreign affairs ministries of the two countries.