The success story of Cyprus is a success for the island, its government and the people, a spokesman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told the press recently.

The Cyprus Country Report, published by CountryProfiler, includes in-depth interviews, detailed sector profiles and cutting-edge insights from Cyprus’ 100 most influential political, economic and business leaders who are shaping the future of their country and its industries.

The energy sector is a priority for Cyprus, Minister of Transport Marios Demetriades has said.

Cyprus is about to exit its economic adjustment programme and is standing again on its own feet, having regained its credibility as a country and as an economy, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades has said.

An efficient exchange of information on criminal convictions referred to as the European Criminal Records Information System has been introduced between Member States in order to help improve the security of citizens within the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The national courts when passing sentences refer to the past convictions in their national register and fail to have any knowledge of possible convictions of the particular defendant in other Member States. This particularly benefited the defendants as they could easily escape their past convictions by moving between EU Member States. As a result in 2009 Members of the European Union took a decision to introduce a system of exchanging information on criminal records with one another.

Bank of Greece Chief Yannis Stournaras said recently that Cyprus is the closest example of social and political consensus and one Greece must follow.

The government has tried to convince energy giant Total to relocate their logistics base from Larnaca port to Limassol, after Larnaca’s municipal council voted against granting a six-month extension to the base’s operation.

The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) is aiming for arrivals in 2016 of 2.9 million following last year’s record of 2.7 million, MPs at the House Finance Committee heard recently.

The share of renewables in energy consumption for Cyprus rose to 9% in 2014 from 8.1% in 2013 and just 3.1% in 2004, but it still well below the EU average of 16%.

The Paphos regional board of tourism is pushing for direct flights connecting the town with Israel as part of a wider plan to increase overseas visitor numbers to the popular coastal town.