Roundup: Cypriot president advises against panic reaction to Brexit

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday advised against panic reaction to the decision of British voters to leave the European Union either at home or on the EU level.

"We should not start panicking, we have some special relations with Britain through the Commonwealth," said Anastasiades when asked to comment on the Brexit decision.

He said that EU member states will jointly decide their policy at the upcoming EU summit.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said that he has convened a side-meeting of heads of government and state of the 27 EU members on the margin of a summit on June 27, to consider Britain's Brexit.

Anastasiades said that it will take a long time to arrange Britain's exit from EU and this will provide ample time for consultations on Britain's relations with the EU after its exit.

"I will say let the dialogue in the European Council develop, always keeping in mind the best interests of Europe and of each member state," said Anastasiades.

He said the aim is to arrange a smooth exit of Britain from EU.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said that the evolution of the relationship between Britain and the EU will come out of the long process of consultations.

"At the same time, the EU of 27 member states will continue to exist and the Republic of Cyprus underlines its full commitment to the European project," Christodoulides said in a written statement.

He said Cyprus will seek to strengthen its close cooperation with Britain with a view of safeguarding the interests of both countries and their people following the new developments.

Cyprus is expected to be mostly affected in four sectors by Britain's exit from the European Union, commerce, investment, tourism and education.

Britain is the third most important commercial partner of Cyprus, with British exports to Cyprus standing at over 550 million euros in 2011 and exports from Cyprus of 56 million euros.

Any import taxes on both sides will affect commerce, with Cypriot agricultural products suffering most. But overall Britain stands to lose commerce by any tariffs.

Foreign direct investments from Cyprus to Britain reached 219 million euros in 2012 and from Britain to Cyprus 979 million euros. The impact of the Brexit in this sector will depend on the final relations between EU and Britain.

Britain is also the biggest tourist market for Cyprus. Over one half of the 2 million tourists expected this year in Cyprus come from Britain.

Over 12,000 Cypriots study in British Universities and benefit by low fees reserved for EU students. How they will be affected depends on final arrangements between Britain and EU. At present, they will benefit by the devaluation of the pound. Any increase in education fees in the future will cause many Cypriot students to apply for university education in other EU countries. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit