Mumbai: Within weeks of India taking Cyprus off its tax blacklist with retrospective effect from November 2013, President Nicos Anastasiades of the island nation called for more bilateral trade and co-operation on Wednesday.
The Cypriot president arrived in Mumbai late last night with a delegation of ministers and business leaders, kick-starting his five-day visit to the country. He is slated to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this week in New Delhi.
“Following the Double Tax Avoidance Treaty that the two countries entered into last November and the removal of Cyprus from the list of notified jurisdictional area, we will strengthen economic and commercial cooperation,” Mr. Anastasiades said at an event here. “We will sign bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding in areas of merchant shipping, air services, agriculture, education and culture.”
India had blacklisted Cyprus in 2013 for not sharing tax information. Following the tax treaty, capital gains tax will be applicable on sale of shares on investments made after April 1, 2017, bringing Cyprus at par with Mauritius in terms of tax treatment. This has come as a major relief to investors and Indian companies which have raised capital from Cyprus investors.
Cyprus is the eighth-largest investor in the country, having pumped in over $9 billion between 2000 and 2016, the president pointed out. India and Cyprus conduct bilateral trade worth $80 million annually.
During his Delhi visit, the Cyprus president is scheduled to address a business forum and deliver a talk at Observer Research Foundation (ORF) also.
On Friday morning, he will be given a ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan followed by laying of wreath by him at Mahatma Gandhi’s Samadhi, Rajghat.
This is President Anastasiades’s first visit to India. He had held substantive meetings with Mr. Modi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2015. India can help Cyprus in its quest for reunification as it has close ties with Turkey, Mr. Anastasiades had said ahead of his visit.
