'India-Cyprus tax treaty to boost bilateral investments'

Revised tax treaty between India and Cyprus will help promoting bilateral investments which has immense potential for growth, said a joint statement on Saturday.

Cyprus is one of the major source of foreign direct investment in India, which New Delhi is keen to tap for its flagship 'Make In India'. At the invitation of India, President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades is visiting the country. 

India and Cyprus signed the revised India-Cyprus Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement in November 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a one-to-one meeting followed by discussions at delegation level with Anastasiades. "Prime Minister Modi suggested that the revision of the agreement could be utilised to increase investments between the two countries, especially in Indian flagship programmes like Make in India and various Cyprus investment projects," said the joint statement after the meeting.

Both the leaders emphasised the need for a comprehensive expansion of mutually beneficial contacts between the business communities of the two countries. They also agreed that the bilateral trade between the two nations has immense potential for growth.

"The two leaders took stock of progress in the implementation of existing bilateral agreements and underlined the importance of optimising existing inter-governmental and other bilateral mechanisms," the statement said.

The two countries also decided to make further use of the Joint Economic Committee as a mechanism to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas of common interest. Anastasiades briefed Modi about the plan for developing the hi-tech sector in Cyprus as the third pillar of its economy. Both the sides identified India's capabilities in the fields of Information Technology, ITeS, biotechnology and R&D as potential areas for future cooperation.

As per the statement, both the countries consider the energy sector as a high priority area and agreed on the scope for sharing India's expertise with Cyprus in this regard. "The two sides discussed various possibilities of forging long-term joint collaboration in promoting innovative renewable energy applications and environment friendly use of energy," it added.

Source: Timesofoman