Co-op gets € 25 mln from EIB for SMEs

The Co-operative Cyprus Bank has signed its third borrowing facility with the European Investment Bank which will provide EUR 25 mln in low-interest loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Co-op General Manager Nicholas Hadjiyiannis said that the previous facility that had just closed, provided EUR 25 mln in loans to 116 businesses, at an average EUR 215,000 each, mostly in the tourism, services, trade, health, industry and

as the preparation of a new comprehensive legal framework for research and innovation, the appointment of a Lead Scientist and the introduction of measurable indicators to record the performance of the entire research activity.

George Georghiou, the Permanent Secretary of the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development (DG EPCD) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Research Promotion Foundation, noted that “the participation of Cyprus in Horizon 2020 is very successful” and that both the current and the previous Framework Programmes “have had a positive impact on the Cypriot economy, on employment and on addressing key social challenges”.

At the same time, he added, the research community was strengthened through substantial funding of more than EUR 100 mln through the creation of partnership networks that led to the opening up of new opportunities for collaboration in bigger projects.

Georghiou noted that as Horizon lasts until the end of 2020, the discussions at European and national level for the next Framework Programme (FP9) are already underway, as the relative legislative proposal by the European Commission is expected to be published in Autumn 2018.

The Director General of the Research Promotion Foundation Vassilis Tsakalos noted that Horizon 2020 is the largest European funding programme for research and innovation with a total budget of around EUR 77 bln for the period 2014-2020.

agriculture sectors.

A novel facility that was well accepted by the market was the Jobs for Youth scheme, an incentive to hire young unemployed.

The Co-op bank, that is 99.5% owned by