Speaking at the India-Cyprus CEO Forum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the strong and developing economic ties between the two countries during his historic visit to Cyprus, the first by an Indian prime minister in more than 20 years. While pointing out that bilateral commerce has reached USD 150 million, he characterized Cyprus as a key “gateway to Europe” and a “trusted partner,” stressing that the “real potential of our relations is much more than this.”
In addition to highlighting the sizeable Cypriot investments in India, PM Modi noted that many Indian businesses have set up shop in Cyprus, taking advantage of the country’s status as a gateway to European markets. Even though the current trade statistics are encouraging, he emphasized that there is still a lot of room for expansion and cooperation, particularly in areas like innovation, energy, technology, fintech, start-ups, artificial intelligence, logistics, shipping, and mobility.
The Prime Minister described India’s swift economic growth, pointing out that it is currently the fifth-largest economy in the world and is on track to overtake it as the third-largest in the near future. He gave an overview of India’s digital transformation, highlighting the country’s extensive use of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which powers half of all digital transactions globally. After similar alliances with nations like France, Modi applauded the current talks to add Cyprus to the UPI network.
India continues to place a high priority on infrastructure development, investing more than $100 billion a year in cutting-edge projects such as shipbuilding, port and maritime development, and the quickly expanding civil aviation industry. Modi also emphasized how India’s startup ecosystem is strong, with more than 100,000 businesses—hundreds of which are unicorns—fueling economic growth and creativity.
The agreement between the Cyprus Stock Exchange and India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) to work together in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), which opens up new opportunities for financial collaboration and investment, was one of the forum’s noteworthy announcements.
Building on the momentum from the recent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the UK, Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s resolve to finalizing an FTA with the European Union before the end of the year. As a crucial forum for trilateral economic cooperation, he hailed the creation of the India, Cyprus, and Greece Business and Investment Council and promised that business leaders’ input will guide a tangible action plan for future cooperation.
In closing, the prime minister thanked Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides for the kind welcome and reaffirmed India’s commitment to strengthening bilateral ties with Cyprus as well as with the larger Mediterranean and European regions.