US Ambassador John Breslow urged Cyprus on Wednesday to be bold and resist regulations that restrict innovation and risk-taking, saying he was concerned about opportunities being lost to unnecessary obstacles.
“Even one company leaving because of unnecessary obstacles is one too many, as it can mean hundreds of millions of dollars left untapped,” Breslow told the Cyprus Forum in Nicosia.
He described relations between the two countries as “better than ever”. “This gives us the opportunity to open new paths and think about what we can achieve over time,” he said.
Breslow said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had set out a vision of how US foreign policy can best serve American national interests. “I believe we are doing well in that effort here in Cyprus, because so many of our interests and goals are so closely aligned,” he said.
“I am grateful to arrive at a time that may be the best in the history of relations between our two countries,” he added, noting that “Cyprus has also benefited from our collective effort”.
On the Cyprus problem, Breslow said “our position remains firm”. The United States continues to support a Cypriot-led, UN-facilitated effort to reunify the island as a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality for all Cypriots, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, he said.
“This is a Cypriot solution for the Cypriot people, and America is ready to support you in achieving it,” he said.
Marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, Breslow said Cypriots understood history “perhaps better than the citizens of any other nation I have met”. “This country has been through division and loss and has emerged stronger, more prosperous and with an enduring hope for a reunified future,” he said.
Defence ties
Breslow said the 2018 Joint Statement of Intent, signed during Trump’s presidency, opened a new chapter in defence and energy cooperation, and the passage of the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act in 2019 strengthened those ties further.
The two countries have since expanded their cooperation into new areas, he said, with the 2024 Strategic Dialogue formalising cooperation on security, education, trade and space.
“The bilateral defence cooperation roadmap signed in September 2024, and the launch of the first case of US military equipment sales to Cyprus, mean the armed forces of our two countries are more interoperable than ever,” he said.
Investment and red tape
Breslow said he looked forward to using his business experience to serve the two countries’ shared priorities. He said he saw “real opportunities” in Cyprus, adding that growing trade and investment boosts prosperity in both countries.
US companies and technology can be an important driver of growth for Cyprus in energy, security and innovation, he said, describing the island as “an attractive destination for investment”.
“We must work together to improve bureaucratic procedures and cut red tape, creating the stable and predictable environment that American, international and Cypriot companies need to make generational investments,” he said.
He urged Cyprus to keep making its market more business-friendly and to support US companies already operating and investing on the island, some of them for decades. Innovation and risk-taking help economies grow, he said.
EU regulations
Breslow said President Nikos Christodoulides “did important work putting the simplification of European regulations on the agenda” during Cyprus’s presidency of the Council of the EU.
“I see an opportunity to work together in this area, as many of these regulations have serious, unintended consequences for the prosperity of both the United States and Cyprus,” he said.
He cited, among others, the EU’s methane regulations, the deforestation regulation, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and restrictions in the Industrial Accelerator Act and the Multiannual Financial Framework, which he said “burden partnerships with American industries”.
“Too often, important decisions sit in the offices of the relevant authorities for weeks or even months. Of course, major economic decisions require careful scrutiny, but today’s regulatory processes do not move at the pace of 21st-century business,” he said.
Procedures must be simplified and made more efficient, he said, because investors and companies need transparency and predictability in the markets where they operate. Cutting red tape to create that environment is “one of my highest priorities”, he said.
Technology and energy
Breslow said US companies had played a “decisive role” in strengthening bilateral ties through several successful partnerships. He cited the partnership between GE Aerospace and Cyprus’s UAMCO, which he said had helped make Cyprus a real aviation hub.
Companies such as Plug and Play and Tenstorrent “are already following that example, investing in Cyprus’s growing technology sector”, he said, adding that Limassol’s development as a tech hub had also drawn significant interest.
“I believe we can look forward to further investment in the technologies of the future. And we are all proud to see Cyprus’s offshore natural gas reserves moving towards production, thanks to partnerships with Chevron, Exxon and others,” he said. “Energy security is national security.”
Cyprus’s emergence as an energy producer will reduce dependence on problematic suppliers and strengthen both Cyprus and the wider region, Breslow said.
Education
The ambassador said the Strategic Dialogue also has a significant cultural and educational dimension, including commitments to strengthen English-language teaching in Cyprus and expand educational exchanges.
“If there is one lesson I have learnt from business and life, it is that you don’t build something that lasts by looking only at the end result. You build it by investing in people,” he said.
“This year, thanks to a significant investment by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Cyprus, we welcomed the largest group of Fulbright English teaching assistants in the programme’s history,” he said.
The assistants now work in schools across the Republic of Cyprus alongside public school teachers, “enriching English-language teaching and inspiring young people to learn more about America and the culture of the world”, he said.
Professional exchange programmes also expanded significantly this year, bringing rising Cypriot executives into direct contact with their US counterparts, Breslow said.
He urged participants to consider “how we can help young Cypriot professionals” secure internships at innovative US companies operating in Cyprus and make use of the training opportunities available. “I know there are many excellent ideas for how the private sector can take part in this kind of investment,” he said, adding that this was “exactly the kind of investment” he believed in.
“I am talking about smart, effective cooperation between government and business that builds relationships, skills and friendships, and that will shape bilateral relations not just for the next five years but for the next 50 years. Education is the foundation of everything we discussed today: our security cooperation, our economic ties and our common purpose,” he said.
(CNA)
