Cyprus took the spotlight at the Investopia Global Mediterranean Forum in Limassol this week, with Energy Minister George Papanastasiou reaffirming the country’s commitment to building closer ties with the United Arab Emirates, particularly in areas such as energy, innovation, tourism and sustainable development.

In a panel alongside UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Papanastasiou said the time is right to deepen the partnership.

“Now is the time to do business,” he stated, stressing that Cyprus has moved away from acting as a ‘supermarket’ economy and is now pursuing targeted investments, with the UAE a key priority.

He laid out four main pillars guiding the Cyprus-UAE relationship, economic complementarity, shared geopolitical interests, sustainability, and a common vision for the Eastern Mediterranean. “

The Eastern Mediterranean can be seen as a space of peace and prosperity,” he said, noting that both countries are aligned on this goal.

Referring to sustainable investments, he described a “corridor for their connection” as essential to future cooperation, while also emphasising how Cyprus, after lessons learned from European overdependence, is now aiming for greater independence and resilience.

The United Arab Emirates sees Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean as strategic partners in building a resilient and innovation-driven regional economy, UAE minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri said on Tuesday in Limassol.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the Investopia Global Mediterranean Forum, Al Marri described the relationship as one grounded in proximity and shared heritage.

“We are only three hours’ flight away,” he said, referring to the geographical, cultural and historical ties between the regions.

“We need a foundation on which we can stand,” he added.

He pointed to the need for closer alignment in areas that support economic diversification and long-term resilience, such as energy, infrastructure, digitalisation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and artificial intelligence.

Columbia Group is anchoring new maritime ventures in Cyprus, leveraging its collaboration with the Emirates Shipping Association to drive digital transformation across the wider region.

Speaking at the Investopia Global Mediterranean Forum in Limassol, Columbia’s chairperson and CEO Mark O’Neil said the group’s proprietary platform, SmartSea, is already reshaping how shipping operations are managed, and that Cyprus is expected to play a key role in its regional rollout.

“The UAE saw the potential of this approach, as did Abu Dhabi,” O’Neil said, referring to SmartSea’s real-time, automated systems based on Sita’s technology, designed to replace outdated manual processes.

The platform, he explained, aims to unify logistics infrastructure across markets.

According to O’Neil, the Middle East is “extremely fertile for such opportunities,” and Columbia is now proceeding with the creation of companies originating in the UAE but based in Cyprus.

“We are not talking theory, this is already in motion,” he said.

Cyprus posted a trade deficit of €2.61 billion for the period between January and April 2025, up from €2.46 billion recorded during the same period in 2024, despite a notable surge in exports, according to preliminary figures released on Tuesday by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

Total imports of goods for the first four months of the year reached €4.36 billion, marking a 18.9 per cent increase compared to €3.67 billion in the corresponding period of 2024.

Meanwhile, total exports climbed to €1.74 bl from €1.20 bl last year, representing a substantial annual rise of 45.1 per cent.

In April 2025 alone, total imports were valued at €1.16 bl, a 4.4 per cent increase from €1.11 bl in April 2024. Imports from EU member states amounted to €715.9m, up from €661.3m, while imports from third countries declined slightly to €440.1m by €445.5m.

Most businesses are still failing to align AI investments with workforce readiness, according to Kyndryl’s People Readiness 2025 report, with 71 per cent of leaders admitting their workforces are not yet ready to successfully leverage the technology.

Kydryl, leading global IT services firm, which also has offices in Cyprus, revealed the global study, based on a survey of more than 1,000 senior business and technology executives across 25 industries and eight geographies, found that 95 per cent of organisations have already invested in AI.

However, just 14 per cent are deploying it for commercial use while future-proofing their workforces.

Michael Bradshaw, Global Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, said “Only a small group of businesses have been able to harness AI successfully for business growth.”

He added that, “while data architecture and technology infrastructure are key pieces of the puzzle, organisations that do not prioritise their workforces will miss out.”