Key Competitive Attractions
The Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency is a government funded, non-profit company whose aim is to assist and promote foreign direct investments (FDI) in Cyprus.
Strategically located amid three continents, Cyprus has become a major eastern Mediterranean trading post and a renowned international trade and services centre.
Key Competitive Attractions:
- Full member of the EU since 2004
- Average annual starting salary for a young graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree is just €22,800, and employees contribute €1,500 for social security, and €4,560 in income tax, making labour costs very attractive.
- 126 public secondary schools and 36 private secondary schools
- Among the top ten highest pupil/teacher ratios in the EU at 15.9 pupils per teacher.
- Three public universities (including one Open University), and three private universities.
- Over 30 colleges and 200 approved study programmes in sync with European standards and guidelines.
- 88% of all secondary students speak English, and 38% speak French.
- 47.5% of the population aged 25-34 held a Bachelor, Masters, or PhD degree in 2009, almost 15% higher than the EU27 average equivalent for 2009.
- More than 1,300 researchers provide abundant opportunities for growth in R&D and innovation in Lefkosia alone.
- The EU’s second lowest corporate tax rate at 10%
- Double taxation agreements with dozens of countries.
- One of the world’s most competitive shipping centres for registration fees and taxes.
- World leading location for foreign investments, indicated by high FDI performance and high FDI potential: a total of €3,620 million in FDI in 2009, compared to €1,202 million in 2008, and with a positive long-term FDI trend with the potential to continue to receive higher FDI (Central Bank of Cyprus, 2010).
- Top three FDI sectors: Financial Services at 58.13%, Trade and Repairs at 23.68%, and Real Estate and Business Services at 15.73%, (2009).
- Favourable real GDP growth, inflation and unemployment rates reflect macroeconomic stability.
- Two international airports
- Modern road infrastructure
- A deep-sea port in Lemesos, and developments to transform Larnaca port into a second are underway.
- Significant investment is to transform the island into a European telecommunications hub.
- Linked to numerous advanced technologies submarine cables, providing high connectivity to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
- Among the top ten international shipping centres in the world, with almost 2,000 vessels and a merchant fleet in excess of 21 million gross tonnages.
- Approximately 50 ship-management companies and maritime-related foreign businesses conduct their main international operations in Cyprus.
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