The agreement signed between Egypt and Cyprus for the Aphrodite gas field resulted to great interest from International oil companies, down-streamers and financial institutions, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said.

Total is committed to continuing its exploration work in Cyprus, chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told Reuters recently, part of a major exploration campaign for 2019 focused on areas known to contain commercial levels of oil and gas.

The government has decided on amendments in the criteria for acquiring a Cypriot passport under the Cyprus Investment Programme, the press reports.

International ratings agency Fitch has said that the decline in Cypriot banks’ non-performing exposures “significantly reduces” contingent liabilities to the sovereign, adding however that the banking sector “remains weak” and that further reductions of bad loans would partly depend on the effective use of legal tools adopted in the previous year.

Cyprus ranks first in the absorption of funds from the European Social Fund in 2018, the ministry of labour said recently.

The number of foreign students choosing Cyprus for their studies has almost tripled in the last five years proving that efforts to establish the island as a regional education hub are delivering results.

Cypriot businessmen have approached Bank of Cyprus, the main shareholder of the newly-opened Nicosia Mall, to acquire its stake, the press reported recently.

The Cyprus Institute’s master’s programme in simulation and data science is accepting applications for the fall 2019 from graduates or professionals with a strong background in mathematics, computer science, natural science or engineering.

Cyprus’ GDP growth is expected to reach 3.8% in 2018 following 4.2% in 2017, according to the winter interim economic forecast issued recently by the European Commission.

Fig Tree Bay in Protaras is the 13th best beach in the world according to TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards for 2018.