2020 Cyprus Country Report
The 2020 Cyprus Country Report features in-depth articles on the economy, foreign direct investment, international trade and headquartering as well as detailed sector profiles and insights from Cyprus’ 100 most influential political, economic and business leaders shaping the future of their country and its industries.
The 2020 Cyprus Country Report features in-depth articles on the economy, foreign direct investment, international trade and headquartering as well as detailed sector profiles and insights from Cyprus’ 100 most influential political, economic and business leaders shaping the future of their country and its industries.
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Headquartering<br />
CORPORATE COMPETENCE<br />
Doing business in and from <strong>Cyprus</strong> is easy and<br />
straightforward. Home to a major international<br />
business and financial services sector, the country<br />
is an ideal base for region-wide corporate coordination<br />
and central management functions,<br />
sales, marketing and customer service. As a probusiness,<br />
neutral, cost-effective and politically<br />
stable country, <strong>Cyprus</strong> offers companies a perfect<br />
climate to successfully compete in the region and<br />
beyond.<br />
Decades of experience as a successful international<br />
business centre means <strong>Cyprus</strong> has a vast<br />
talent pool in the corporate and financial services<br />
sphere. The country has more than 4,000 registered<br />
accountants and 700 registered accounting<br />
firms – which include all major global firms<br />
– and more than 3,000 registered lawyers and<br />
around 160 law firms.<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong> has also taken a strong approach in promoting<br />
its digital agenda and research and development<br />
by utilising EU funding. Supporting these<br />
efforts are its booming higher education sector<br />
with innovative programs in computer science,<br />
software engineering and ICT to produce tech<br />
savvy talent, as well as incentives for start-ups and<br />
entrepreneurs. Foreign companies already based<br />
in <strong>Cyprus</strong> comment positively on their experiences<br />
with local employees in terms of productivity,<br />
language skills and dependability. The business<br />
language is English and the country has one of the<br />
youngest and most highly educated workforces in<br />
the EU. In addition, the EU has a workforce of 240<br />
million people and <strong>Cyprus</strong> offers visa-free access<br />
to this talent pool – allowing companies to attract<br />
the best of the best into their ranks.<br />
TOP SHIPPING HUB<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong> is one of the most influential global hubs<br />
for ship owning and shipmanagement services.<br />
Today, <strong>Cyprus</strong> is the largest third-party shipmanagement<br />
centre in Europe and the largest<br />
crew management centre in the world, while<br />
the island’s international ship register is the<br />
third largest in Europe and the 11th largest in<br />
the world. Thanks to its advantageous legislative<br />
framework the island has attracted some of the<br />
world’s most influential names in shipping for<br />
the last 50 years, with most headquarters located<br />
in Limassol – the island’s maritime capital. The<br />
country’s Shipping Deputy Ministry is determined<br />
to maintain <strong>Cyprus</strong>’ competitive edge by<br />
further expanding the island’s registry and maritime<br />
cluster, strengthening international relations,<br />
and upgrading available services.<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong> is the EU’s largest shipmanagement<br />
centre, with one in five vessels under third<br />
party management controlled from <strong>Cyprus</strong>.<br />
With more than 200 ship-owning, management<br />
and other shipping-related companies based<br />
in <strong>Cyprus</strong>, such as Columbia Marlow and BS<br />
Shipmanagement, the success of the sector has<br />
developed clusters and auxiliary services, which<br />
is a model that could be successfully replicated<br />
in other sectors, such as the growing oil and gas<br />
sector. <strong>Cyprus</strong> provides a secure and convenient<br />
base for operations for various ancillary services<br />
to the oil and gas industry as well as for company<br />
headquarters to support activities in the EMEA<br />
region.<br />
One of our<br />
strategic<br />
priorities is<br />
to promote<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong> as an<br />
international<br />
investment hub and<br />
headquartering centre. We<br />
are happy to see that when<br />
it comes to choosing the<br />
right location to establish<br />
international and regional<br />
headquarters <strong>Cyprus</strong><br />
is increasingly gaining<br />
momentum as a prime solution<br />
in the minds of decision<br />
makers of multinationals. In<br />
recent years, a number of tech<br />
companies have expanded<br />
or re-located to <strong>Cyprus</strong>. Our<br />
targeted promotional activities<br />
are dedicated to proving that<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong> is an attractive location<br />
that could be used as a gateway<br />
for international companies<br />
wishing to gain access into<br />
the EU. <strong>Cyprus</strong> can also serve<br />
as a strategic location for UK<br />
companies, choosing to retain<br />
a presence in Europe following<br />
Brexit. Human talent, attractive<br />
IP regime, alongside a thriving<br />
professional services industry,<br />
means that <strong>Cyprus</strong> is able to<br />
offer significant benefits to<br />
businesses seeking to build<br />
headquarters in Europe.<br />
George Campanellas<br />
CEO<br />
Invest <strong>Cyprus</strong><br />
3CX Headquarters, Nicosia<br />
36 <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong> CYPRUS <strong>2020</strong>
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