Defence, fintech pacts soon with India: Cyprus chief scientist

Almost three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Cyprus, the chief scientist for research and innovation (CSRI) of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetris Skourides, said on Wednesday that the actual cooperation in terms of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in different spheres will now begin to take shape.

- Snehal Fernandes

Skourides was in Mumbai to attend the India-Cyprus summit on Thursday.

In Modi’s meeting with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, the discussions involved topics of research, innovation, trade and science. The two leaders also explored avenues for collaboration in fintech, startups, defence industry, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (Al), among others.

“Building on that, it opens up a discussion for us to develop and nurture and fine-tune, I would say, the actual cooperation,” said Skourides. “So, there will be an engagement in the next few months between our minister of Digital Policy, Research and Innovation and the counterpart ministry in India to start establishing MOUs where basically we outline how and where these areas are going to be there.”