MEMBERS of a steering committee tasked with overseeing the due diligence on bank portfolios were expected on the island yesterday to iron out differences with Cypriot authorities over the methodology used. The due diligence will determine the capital needs of the financial sector in line with a preliminary bailout agreement.

Works on the island’s first photovoltaic park are due to start this year within the UN-controlled buffer zone, the university of Cyprus (UCY) has said.

A number of laws affecting international business were voted on by the Cyprus Parliament recently as part of the preliminary agreement reached between the Cyprus government and the Troika.

European leaders from across the EU institutions and member states will arrive in Cyprus to attend an extraordinary summit of the European People’s Party (EPP) summit to be hosted in Limassol this Friday.

Cyprus can only expect a bailout in early March after its presidential election next month, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported, citing sources close to negotiations.

The Italian-Korean and the French-led oil consortia have proposed drilling for gas twice within the space of three years after exploration contracts have been signed.

Cyprus expects soon to begin negotiations with natural gas suppliers with a view to importing by January 2015 says Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis.

Cyprus is trying to avert adoption of the worst-case scenario concerning the amount needed for bank recapitalisation, which would make the island’s debt unsustainable and lead to additional austerity measures, including privatisation of public companies.

Cyprus is on the road to cleaning out its banking sector and winning back the trust of the markets, Central Bank governor Panicos Demetriades said in his first address to eurozone ambassadors in Nicosia.

Despite a year in which industrial production declined sharply, industrial output prices rose by 7% over the year earlier in January-November according to Cystat.