Cyprus Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, George Lakkotrypis departs for Brussels where he will be a key speaker in an event titled 'Cyprus: A Key Player in the Eastern Mediterranean Region' organised by Natural Gas Europe.

Investment Funds assets amounted to €2,693 million in March 2016, marking a reduction of 6.7% compared December 2015, figures released recently by the Central Bank of Cyprus show.

Cyprus and the Government of the Republic of Latvia recently signed in Brussels the Treaty for the Avoidance of Double Taxation on Income.

Business software developer Microgen Financial Systems, a London-based company that is part of the technology group Microgen Plc with a €42m turnover in 2015, said that it acquired the Limassol-based InfoScreen (Cyprus) Ltd.

The turnover in the retail trade rose 2.5% in March 2016 compared to the respective month of 2015 in terms of value, the statistical service said recently.

The General Manager of the Ministry of Transportation Alecos Michaelides said the state will begin to reap the benefits of Limassol’s privatised port as soon as 2017, with the Larnaca port being next in line for big decisions.

Emirates, which operate daily flights between Dubai and Cyprus, announced a boost in the capacity on its twice weekly service to Larnaca and onward to Malta with the introduction of a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft starting from Wednesday, 1 June 2016.

Hellenic Bank, Cyprus’ third largest lender, said that it generated an after-tax profit of €0.3m in January to March 2016 as conditions remain challenging and volatile, against €6m profit the previous quarter and €12m profit in the first quarter last year.

Transport Minister Marios Demetriades has disclosed that a study on the restructuring of Cyprus’ commercial shipping sector is under way, while also calling on young people to take the ‘sea career path’.

As part of ongoing efforts to increase visitor numbers to Paphos, the district will be promoted at a number of tourism workshops and presentations in the capital cities of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in May 2016.