The Russia-Cyprus business forum starts in Nicosia’s Cyprus Hilton Hotel on Thursday. The forum is organised in the framework of the official visit of Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev to the Republic of Cyprus.

The event is organised jointly by chambers of commerce and industry, the societies of friendship between the two countries, and by the Cyprus-Russia association of businesses. The forum has attracted about 500 businesses, where about 160 came from Russia, the organisers say.

“The participants will discuss cooperation in practically all spheres of the economy, including finance, investments, venture capital, real estate, shipping and cooperation in trade and industry,” Cyrpus’ President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Manthos Mavromatis said.

The forum will be a platform to network and establish relations on a personal level.

There is no doubt that the Russian Federation is the most important economic partner of Cyprus, and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry wishes to promote this economic cooperation, Mavromatis said.

Russia is a major investor in the republic with the amount of gained investments of two billion euros, as of 2008. On the other hand, Cyprus has become a leading direct investor in Russia.

Cooperation between Russia and Cyprus is reaching new levels, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said in his article, which was published in Cyprus’ Phileleftheros daily on Thursday.

“Bilateral relations between our countries have been developing successfully – in the form of mutual assistance and trusted partnership,” he said. “Russia-Cyprus cooperation has gained new contents: our priorities now are trade, investments, finance, business contacts; and the trade turnover, despite the crisis, exceeded one billion dollars over the first six months of the current year.”

He expressed hope that the Russia-Cyprus business forum organised in Nicosia on Thursday “will set priorities of our cooperation in trade and investments.”

“Here our targets are similar: they are partnership for modernisation, for the development of high technologies,” Medvedev said. “I am convinced that such meetings will become regular and it is impossible to rule out in future they will attract businesses from the two countries.”