Engage Project Organised A Public Discussion About “Federation And Economy” Cooperated With Cyprus Turkish Chamber Of Industry
“The benefits of a solution are way higher than it’s cost”
The Management Centre and the NGO-SC’s joint project “Engage – Do Your Part for Peace” organised an open discussion on the subject of “Federalism and Economy” in cooperation with the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry at the premises of the Chamber on Wednesday 5th of May.
The main frame of the discussion was how to unify the two economies of Cyprus and how to operate in a healthy sustainable way towards a-solution. The event hosted many key people specially from Turkish Cypriot Community including the General President of the Social Democratic Party Mr. Mehmet Çakıcı, the General President of the Democratic Party Mr. Serdar Denktaş, the President of the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry Mr Ali Çıralı, Mr. Hasan Güngör from the Presidential Office, representatives from different organisations and several university students from the Turkish Cypriot Community.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Besim lecturer and economist and former Greek Cypriot Community Head of Finance, Mr. Michael Sarris delivered presentations on the topic. In the opening speeches, Mr. Ali Çıralı from the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry stated that as industry people they have made some observations about the threats and opportunities of a united economy; such as the Greek Cypriot Community economy is relatively bigger and stronger compared to that of the Turkish Cypriot counterpart. Mr. Çıralı expressed his gratitude to the Engage team on organising such discussions, as the two communities need more information and road maps on how to deal with economic unifications results.
The Management Centre’s Executive Director Dr. Bülent Kanol, emphasized that at present in both parts of island economy is the top priority discussion among Cypriots; therefore it is important to discuss how to operate a unified economy after a federal solution.
Kanol also stated that their effort is to prepare the two communities for upcoming peace and solution. He stressed that the economy sector is the sector where negotiations had progressed most among the two leaders, therefore it’s appropriate to organize an event about “Federalism and Economy” and bring together two important and experienced local experts.
Press Release
For Immediate Release Friday, 6 May 2011
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Besim, who was a team member during the economy negations on second Turkish Cypriot Community leader Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat’s term, delivered his presentation on five different main frameworks. In his presentation titled “Economy in Federal Cyprus”, Mr. Besim discussed “Federation, Federation and Economy, Fiscal Federation, Cooperation and Expenditure Competence and Economy in Federal Cyprus”. Mr. Besim underlined his faith that in a possible solution, economic benefits will be way more than its cost to both communities. Dr. Besim also suggested strengthening both economies and increasing cooperation and support to the weaker economy to keep both economies at even levels; as an example to that he used the case of Western and Eastern Germany.
“In a possible solution money currency will be Euro across Cyprus, therefore a short but effective transition phase is essential” said Mr. Besim.
From the Greek Cypriot Community, former Head of Finance Mr. Michael Sarris delivered a presentation on the “Hopes and Opportunities of a Unified Economy”. In his presentation Mr. Sarris mentioned that in economy; political facts should be harmonised with the economical facts and he also discussed the structures of economy in a possible federal solution.
Mr. Sarris, stressed that a good political solution can be found in the case of Cyprus, but for as long as the economy does not improve, this political solution will suffer and cannot succeed. In order to have a strong economy on the island, Mr. Sarris emphasized the necessity to unify the powers without separating communities, as Turkish Cypriots/Greek Cypriots and both communities should work in cooperation, and in order to reach this goal a strong Central Bank and a strong Ministry for Finance/Economy are mandatory.