Cyprus ranks 32nd in a new list of the safest country in the world, six places ahead of the UK, with Iceland taking the top spot.

The cabinet recently approved a bill governing an inter-state agreement with Egypt for the construction of a subsea natural gas pipeline crossing through the exclusive economic zones of the two nations.

With 90% of all jobs after 2020 requiring basic digital skills, and with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), which is estimated to cause a net loss of millions of jobs in the coming years, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said on that politically and institutionally the world was still not fully prepared to handle this challenge.

Industrial output recorded an increase of 2.2% on an annual basis in 2018, data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service show.

A recent brain storming meeting held by the newly appointed deputy minister of tourism saw more than 90 participants from all over Cyprus meet in Nicosia to discuss problems facing the industry, and how best to tackle them, according to officials.

The year ahead is expected to be challenging as it will be a struggle to attract the same number of tourists as the previous two record years where visitor arrivals reached almost four million, head of the hoteliers’ association Pasyxe Haris Loizides said recently.

The 5th MED-7 Summit which will take place on Tuesday 29th January, in Nicosia, is set to focus on the great challenges the EU is faced with today, including the migration crisis, Brexit, energy security, the next multi-annual fiscal framework, developments in the euro area and climate change.

Further to a relevant decision of the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) regarding its participation in the share capital of the Hellenic Energy Exchange S.A. (HEnEx S.A.), it was announced that the transfer of 10% of the share capital of the above company to the CSE was completed on 18 December 2018 in Athens.

President Nicos Anastasiades and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed Cyprus’ energy programme, security and defence, as well as other bilateral issues during their recent meeting on the side-lines of the fifth Southern EU Countries Summit.

Moody’s rating agency, stated that there was a decline by €5.6 billion in non-performing exposures (NPEs) stemming from the resolution of the co-operative bank (CCB) and the transfer of its NPEs to an asset management company. The rating agency stated that the decline is is a credit positive for the Cypriot banking system because it reduces asset quality risks and supports depositor confidence.