Cyprus boosting high tech cooperation with UAE

Cyprus is boosting its cooperation with the UAE, which is ahead in high tech, including blockchain, cyber security and artificial intelligence, deputy minister of research, innovation and digital research Kyriakos Kokkinos said on Tuesday after talks in Dubai.

Kokkinos, a member of a large Cyprus delegation headed by President Nicos Anastasiades on his visit to the UAE, was speaking to the media after talks with deputy minister for industry and advanced technology Omar Ahmed Suwaina al Suwaidi which focused on boosting cooperation.

“We have found the sectors of cooperation and I have extended an official invitation to visit Cyprus to take this further, once the proper preparatory work has been done,” he said.

Dubai has made significant advances in advanced technology such as AI, cybersecurity and blockchain, he added. “I believe that Dubai is of interest because it is also access for us to the east, but the same goes for Dubai as the deputy minister told me at our meeting today, for them Cyprus is their access to Europe. So, these meetings are significant and useful,” he added.

The delegation will also be visiting the Cyprus pavilion at Expo 2020 on the occasion of the national day for Cyprus there.

Asked whether there were results from the Expo, Kokkinos said that these will come in due course. “It is not something that immediate, as soon as you have a presence. The Expo is not much for trade transactions but to promote your country as an area in the eastern Mediterranean that is worth being on the radar of the business activities of other countries.”

On Wednesday, President Anastasiades and the Cyprus delegation will meet crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nayhan in Abu Dhabi. Talks are expected to cover the Cyprus issue, regional developments, bilateral relations, energy and EU-UAE relations.

Anastasiades flew to Dubai on Monday evening. With him are the ministers of finance, energy, defence, agriculture and transport, the deputy ministers of tourism shipping and research, the deputy minister to the president and the deputy government spokesman. Business leaders are also participating.

Cyprus’ participation at EXPO 2020is viewed as an opportunity to promote the island and boost tourism. It also aims to promote the country as an education and science hub with opportunities for research, innovation and investment.