Nicosia scrambles to protect brand after sanctions incident

President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides convened an extraordinary meeting on Thursday following the inclusion of Cypriot natural and legal persons in the lists of the latest sanctions published on Wednesday by the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

According to a written statement by Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis during the meeting, chaired by the President of the Republic, it was decided to further handle the issue and investigate the elements that led to the imposition of the sanctions.

He underlines that the decisions were taken with the sole aim of preserving the name of Cyprus as a reliable financial and business center.

The Spokesman points out that the President of the Republic considers the whole issue to be particularly serious and has given clear instructions for a full investigation.

The extraordinary meeting was attended by the Attorney General, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Deputy Minister to the President, a representative of the Central Bank of Cyprus, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance who also chairs the National Sanctions Implementation Unit, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government Spokesman, the Director of the Office of the President of the Republic and the Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of the Republic.