President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday rang the bell to close the day’s trading at India’s national stock exchange in Mumbai and did so on a day on which stock prices in India largely stagnated amid concerns of inflation.

He used his speech at the stock exchange to encourage Indian businesses to invest in Cyprus, stressing that the island has “consistently acted as a trusted partner in a rapidly evolving region”.

“In this regard, Cyprus serves as a natural gateway between India, Europe, and the wider eastern Mediterranean, combining political and economic stability with ambition, innovation, and a future-focused outlook,” he said.

He added that Cyprus’ partnership with India is “valuable to us”, and that “building on the longstanding excellent relations between our country … the way forward is crystal clear: to enhance the excellent political relationship between Cyprus and India into an even deeper business, investment, and financial cooperation”.

To this end, he called on investors to “build stronger links between our business communities, encourage greater two-way investment, and create new partnerships in areas such as financial services, technology, innovation, shipping, connectivity, and energy”.

Mumbai, Christodoulides, stock esxchange

Cyprus, he said, is “ready” to act as a “reliable European gateway for Indian businesses looking towards Europe and the wider eastern Mediterranean region”.

He also made reference to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between India’s national stock exchange’s international exchange and the Cyprus stock exchange last year, saying that it “marked an important milestone in strengthening financial and investment ties between our two countries”.

“More importantly, it reflects a shared ambition to create stronger links between the Indian and European financial ecosystems, opening new pathways for investment, capital markets cooperation, and financial connectivity,” he said.

He closed by saying that institutions such as India’s national stock exchange “can also play an important role in shaping this new era of connectivity and facilitating the growing strategic partnership between the EU and India”.

This, he said, can create “significant opportunities for our economies, businesses, and markets”.

Stock prices remained largely stagnant in Mumbai on Thursday, with Reuters reporting that India’s central bank is “likely” to begin raising interest rates from next month amid rising oil prices.