A few years ago, we thought we’d become the next Bollywood, if not Hollywood itself. The previous government had even prepared an incentive scheme for what we dubbed the cypriot ‘Olivewood’.
The only one who took the bait was Nicolas Cage, who arrived in Cyprus to star in “Jiu Jitsu”, primarily filmed somewhere in Mammari.
The film went largely unnoticed, so we carried on making Cypriot sketch shows, which suit us better and actually have some traction in the domestic market (rumour has it that adult films are also produced in Cyprus, but we haven’t looked into that – we couldn’t say if it’s true).
Now, we’ve set our sights on arms dealing. Of course, we don’t call it that – it sounds rather harsh. Bit awkward to promote ourselves as a bridge for peace whilst flogging weapons, isn’t it? So we call it the defence industry.
Now that we’ve got a direct line to the world leaders – both outgoing and incoming – we can speak with suitable swagger. And our president certainly has plenty of that.
While Parliament was in absolute chaos, with his supporting parties trying to maintain a delicate balance between banks, football clubs, and voters all at once, the president was announcing measures with what he called a strategic aim: “to transform Cyprus’s defence industry so it can make a significant contribution to Europe’s collective security framework”.
We’ll be making weapons for defence, not attack. Perhaps we’ll even make it a condition of sale: “We’ll sell them to you, but heaven help you if you use them to attack another country”.
Weapons systems are already being manufactured in Cyprus.
As revealed at a conference called “Battlefield Redefined 2024” (where the president spoke), 16 companies operating in Cyprus have secured participation in 37 contracts within the European Defence Industrial Development Programme and the European Defence Fund, worth a total of €435 million.
The president’s vision, as he explained it, is to transform Cyprus from a consumer of defence products into a producer. And he sees enormous potential in this.
“We envision this Cypriot industry succeeding by bringing young Cypriots back home to work in high-paying positions”.
Well, why should we bother growing potatoes and olives for pocket change when there are better prospects elsewhere?
The customers want weapons. Legitimate business, mind you – not flogging passports and citizenship to fraudsters. Just weapons for governments, for their defence and security. Good weapons, for a good cause.