THE Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) said yesterday it was “very optimistic” for tourist arrivals from the Ukraine, one of the island’s great white hopes in finding alternative, growing, markets to replace the shrinking ones.

The Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation (CYS) yesterday signed three memoranda of cooperation with the Standards Institute of Israel (SII), the industrialists union OEV and the European University of Cyprus.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said the government was working on proving the ratings agencies wrong, a day after Fitch said it expected the recession in Cyprus to be deeper than what international lenders forecast.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team of experts is in Cyprus to scrutinise the island’s solvency law, reports have said.

The banking sector may have been saved from the brink, with the taxpayer footing the bill, but the trickiest part of overhauling the economy and reining the national debt still lies ahead.

Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou said that much work was being done on the issue of energy security, adding that “we are creating an energy security umbrella because energy and our natural resources arethe future of this country.”

Cyprus is not alone in its efforts to recover from the worst economic crisis in decades, Internal Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said in Nicosia, as he reiterated the island was on the right track to stabilise the economy.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianides says enough funds have been set aside to ensure the guaranteed minimum income, expected to enter into force in July 2014.

Russia has given the green light for additional flights to Cyprus during the winter season, following a decision to liberalise the air routes between the two countries.

Cyprus and Lebanon will begin negotiations for a unitisation agreement to regulate ownership issues if hydrocarbons are found in the area between the two countries’ EEZ.