Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 09-09-08

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] FINANCE MINISTER - INVESTMENTS

[02] CYPRUS TALKS - ARTISTS

[03] NEW LARNACA AIRPORT

[01] FINANCE MINISTER - INVESTMENTS

Invited to comment on the fall of GDP rate to -1.1% during the second quarter of 2009, Stavrakis said that the key for growth is the private investments and private consumption, and called on the businesspersons to begin investing again. He said that next Friday, the first governments official forecasts for 2010 regarding unemployment, growth rate, inflation, and public finances will be released.

Speaking after a meeting he had with Cyprus Green Partys Secretary General Ioanna Panayiotou, the Finance Minister said that the second quarter of 2009 was very bad with negative growth rate. While the public investments and consumption recorded a considerable increase of 10%, and especially in the sectors of public constructions, the private sector has shown a considerable shrinkage on consumption, despite the fact that the incomes of the private sector have increased by 5%.

Saying that consumption is the biggest contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Stavrakis noted that private consumption restraint is caused by markets bad psychology, the already existing over-lending of households, the high lending interest rates, and the banks pressure.

Stavrakis assured that the governments intention is to continue the right financial policy, namely, the public sector will continue to be expansionist in order to give the real economy a boost.

[02] CYPRUS TALKS - ARTISTS

The works on display are the creation of the art collective TWO|FOUR|TWO by Costas Mantzalos and Constantinos Kounnis, and the pair of visual artists Emin Cizenel and Anber Onar. The works consist of portraits superimposed on one another, backlit, fusing different personalities to create new identities.

Cizenel and Onar have created an installation specifically for the exhibition, dressing all 17 windows of the main room of the site of the Cyprus peace negotiations with recent photographs of the sunlit faces of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot children.

This is the third series of works in the exhibition, which kicked off on June 1. Following their meeting in the United Nations Protected Area of Nicosia on September 10, President of the Republic Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will see the works in the presence of all the artists participating in the show as well of the UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer.

The exhibition is made possible in part by assistance from the UNDP-ACT programme.

[03] NEW LARNACA AIRPORT

Speaking after a meeting with the manager of the project, Hermes, and all concerned government agencies, Nicolaides said the inauguration of the new airport is scheduled for November 7, while the airport will become fully operational on November 10.

The new airport totaling 100.000 square metres, four times bigger than the current airport of Larnaca, will have a capacity of 7.5 million passengers per annum, while it will feature, inter alia, 16 airbridges, two different levels for departures and arrivals, escalators and moving walks.

``We are in the final stage for the operation of the new terminal of Larnaca airport,`` Nicolaides said speaking after the meeting, adding ``this is a project which will upgrade substantially our infrastructure and will send the message that Cyprus advances towards upgrading the services is offering as a hub of transport to become a broader centre of economic activity.``

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