Cyprus might become the first EU member state to emerge as a LNG exporter and realize the concept of an Eastern Mediterranean Gas Corridor, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said recently.

The troika of international lenders return to the island on July 15, 2014 for a fifth review of the country’s economic adjustment programme.

US interest in the natural gas reserves in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has increased as a result of the Ukraine crisis, which has led Washington to seek alternative options for natural gas supply.

The Republic of Cyprus recently signed, in Strasburg, the base of the Council of Europe (CoE), the CoE-OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (ETS no. 127) and its Protocol (ETS no. 208).

The mosque of Hala Sultan in the coastal town of Larnaca has received the certificate of Excellence for 2014 by the well-known and established travel website TripAdvisor, used by millions of travelers around the world.

Minister of Energy Giorgos Lakkotrypis says that in addition to the discovery so far of 5 tcf of natural gas in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, the government is optimistic for further discoveries in the near future, as over the next 12 to 18 months the exploration activities of the licensees will intensify.

A meeting took place recently between the leaderships of the Research Promotion Foundation, the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), with the aim to enhance the ability of Cypriot research/academic centres and enterprises to absorb more funds from the EU programms on research and innovation.

Cypriot Enterprise Link and Startup Europe co-organized the event 'Entrepreneurship in Europe: Opportunities for Cyprus' that took place on July 7th at the CYTA Amphitheatre in Nicosia.

House prices in Cyprus fell 5.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014, the third largest drop in the European Union, the EU’s statistical service, Eurostat, said recently.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades recently welcomed banks’ efforts to recapitalise ahead of EU-wide stress tests in the autumn of 2014.