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Cyprus can’t move itself on the map. But it can change what it does with its location, President Nikos Christodoulides said Monday as he made the case for a Cypriot role in a proposed trade route linking India and Europe through the Middle East.
Opening The Economist’s 22nd Annual Cyprus Summit at The Landmark Nicosia, Christodoulides said the island’s proximity to regional crises also puts it in a position to help address them. He described that approach as a pillar of Cyprus’ foreign policy and said the country’s partnerships should serve shared interests across the eastern Mediterranean.
Christodoulides pointed to the vulnerability of trade routes as a sign of how fragile the global economy can be. For Cyprus and the European Union, he said, becoming more resilient means strengthening Europe’s defenses and giving it more room to act independently while continuing to work with partners. It also means keeping economies attractive to investors and able to withstand shocks.
One test of that approach is the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor, known as IMEC, which Christodoulides called a priority for his government. The proposed network would move goods by ship and rail between India, the Gulf and Europe. Cyprus was absent from the list of original signatories in 2023. For local businesses, the practical question is whether Cypriot ports could serve the route and give exporters another way to reach customers abroad.
Christodoulides closed with an invitation to regional partners, saying Cyprus would keep the door open to anyone willing to work with it.
