Thursday, 2 February 2023
The Greek Cypriot government has formed a technical committee to facilitate the employment of Turkish Cypriots wishing to work in the south of the island, Kibris Postasi reports.
Quoting Greek Cypriot daily ‘Phileleftheros’, Kibris Postasi writes that the project is the initiative of Greek Cypriot Minister of Labour Kiriakos Kuşios, to meet the workforce needs in the south. The project comes with the recommendation of the EU and other stakeholders and ministries in the south.
So far, in technical committee meetings, it was decided to implement training programmes related to construction, hotel management and food sectors, apart from Greek language education, through the Human Dynamics Development Authority, the Productivity Centre and possibly the Greek Cypriot unions. The EU, which recommends and encourages such programmes, will be asked to help finance either all or part of these training programmes for Turkish Cypriots.
The task force will submit its recommendations to the Greek Cypriot Labour Advisory Unit, which will make the final decision on the implementations targeted in the second half of 2023.
It was also pointed out that the EU views the entry of Turkish Cypriots into the Greek Cypriot job market as a confidence-building measure.
The Greek Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs also sees these measures as an effort to “liberate the Turkish Cypriot community from its dependence on Turkey”.
