Norway wealth fund to vote against Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package

Norway wealth fund to vote against Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 09 June 2024
Follow

Norway wealth fund to vote against Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package

Norway wealth fund to vote against Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package
  • Musk’s pay was approved in 2018, but voided by a judge, who said the amount was unfair to shareholders
  • Norway's severeign fund holds a 0.98 percent stake worth $7.7 billion of Tesla shares

OSLO: Norway’s $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Saturday it will vote against ratifying Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package, which is up for a shareholder vote next week, after a Delaware judge invalidated it earlier this year.

The fund is Tesla’s eighth-biggest shareholder, according to LSEG data.
Musk’s pay, the largest for a chief executive in corporate America, was approved in 2018, but voided by a judge earlier this year, who said the amount was unfair to shareholders, calling it an “unfathomable sum.”
The fund said it appreciated “the significant value generated under Mr. Musk’s leadership since the grant date in 2018.”
Still, “we remain concerned about the total size of the award, the structure given performance triggers, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the operator of the fund said.
In 2018, the fund had voted against the package.
“We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics,” NBIM added.
The fund, which holds a 0.98 percent stake worth $7.7 billion according to fund data, has been critical of excessive CEO pay.
Responding to a post on social media platform X, Musk said the fund’s decision is “not cool,” adding that if the fund actually surveyed the constituents, they would discover “overwhelming support in favor.”
Last year it voted against more than half of US CEO pay packages above $20 million, warning they did not align with long-term value creation for shareholders.

Unions
The fund also said it would vote for a shareholder proposal calling on Tesla to adopt a freedom of association and collective bargaining policy, a win for labor unions seeking to assert their influence over the US car maker.
The vote comes as Tesla continues to face industrial action in Sweden, with its mechanics on strike since Oct. 27, in one of the country’s longest labor disputes.
Norway’s wealth fund, which owns 1.5 percent of all the world’s listed stocks, also in 2022 backed a shareholder proposal calling on Tesla to adopt a policy of respecting labor rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The electric vehicle producer faces a backlash in the Nordic region from unions and some pension funds over its refusal to accept the demand from its Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.

Texas
The wealth fund voted for transferring the EV maker’s state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware, a vote Musk sought after the Delaware judge invalidated his pay.
The fund also said it would vote for a proposal to elect Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, 51, to Tesla’s board of directors. The fund had voted in favor of his election in 2018, according to fund data.
Tesla shareholders will vote on Musk’s pay, as well as the re-election of directors, including Musk’s brother, at their annual meeting scheduled on June 13.


Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto

Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto
Updated 14 sec ago
Follow

Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto

Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto
  • “The acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today are unacceptable. Every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely,” Trudeau wrote on X

TORONTO, Canada: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned as “unacceptable” violence at a Hindu temple near Toronto on Sunday, following skirmishes blamed by some leaders on Sikh activists.
Local police in the city of Brampton, roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Toronto, said they had deployed heavily outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir in order to maintain calm during a protest.
A spokesman for the Peel Regional Police told AFP that no arrests had been made. Police have also declined to assign blame for the reported violence.
“The acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today are unacceptable. Every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely,” Trudeau wrote on X.
A federal lawmaker and member of Trudeau’s Liberal Party, Chandra Arya, blamed the incident on “Khalistanis,” a reference to supporters of the fringe separatist movement for an independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab state.
Relations between Canada and India have nosedived after Ottawa accused the Indian government of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan activist.
Beyond Nijjar’s killing, Canada has accused India of directing a broad campaign targeting Sikh activists on Canadian soil, which Ottawa says has included intimidation, threats and violence.
“A red line has been crossed by Canadian Khalistani extremists today,” Arya, who is Hindu, posted on X.
“The attack by Khalistanis on the Hindu-Canadian devotees inside the premises of the Hindu Sabha temple in Brampton shows how deep and brazen has Khalistani violent extremism has become in Canada,” he said.
Video circulating on social media appears to show individuals carrying yellow Khalistan flags clashing with a rival group, including people holding Indian flags. There were also isolated fist fights, videos show.
Trudeau charged the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with violating Canadian sovereignty.
India has rejected the allegations.
Delhi and Ottawa earlier this month each expelled the other’s ambassador and other senior diplomats.


UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
Updated 12 min 7 sec ago
Follow

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
  • Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million)

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will double funding for Britain’s border security agency and treat people-smuggling gangs like terror networks in an attempt to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
In a speech Monday to a meeting of the international police organization Interpol, Starmer will say the gangs behind irregular migration are a serious threat to global security.
Arguing that “the world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge,” Starmer will say that “we’re taking our approach to counterterrorism, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs,” according to extracts released by his office.
He’ll call for more cooperation between law-enforcement agencies, closer coordination with other countries and unspecified “enhanced” powers for law-enforcement.
Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million). The money will be used to fund high-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators.
Like previous Conservative British governments, Starmer’s Labour Party administration is struggling to stop thousands of people fleeing war and poverty from trying reach the UK from France in flimsy, overcrowded boats.
More than 31,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes so far this year, more than in all of 2023, though fewer than in 2022. At least 56 people have perished in the attempts this year, according to French officials, making 2024 the deadliest since the number of channel crossings began surging in 2018.
Starmer leads a center-left government, and has raised some eyebrows in September when he visited Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and praised her nationalist conservative government’s “remarkable” progress in reducing the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores by boat.
Starmer will argue on Monday that “there’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the channel.”
The opposition Conservative Party argues that Starmer should not have scrapped the previous government’s plan to send some asylum-seekers who reach Britain by boat on one-way trips to Rwanda. Supporters of the proposal say it would act as a deterrent. Human rights groups and many lawyers say it is unethical and unlawful to send migrants thousands of miles to a country they don’t want to live in.
Starmer called the plan a “gimmick” and canceled it soon after he was elected in July. Britain paid Rwanda hundreds of millions of pounds for the plan under a deal signed by the two countries in 2022, without any deportations taking place.
Senior police and government officials from the 196 Interpol member states are attending the global police body’s four-day congress in Glasgow, Scotland.
On Tuesday, Brazilian police official Valdecy Urquiza is expected to be named the new general secretary of the Lyon, France-based organization, replacing Jürgen Stock of Germany.


Moldova’s pro-Western president wins 2nd term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims

Moldova’s pro-Western president wins 2nd term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims
Updated 04 November 2024
Follow

Moldova’s pro-Western president wins 2nd term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims

Moldova’s pro-Western president wins 2nd term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims
  • Sandu had 54.7 percent of the vote, compared to 45.3 percent for Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor general who was backed by the pro-Russia Party of Socialists
  • Turnout stood at more than 1.68 million people, with Moldova’s large diaspora casting ballots in record numbers of more than 325,000 voted, heavily in favor of Sandu in the runoff

CHISINAU, Moldova: Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu has won a second term in a pivotal presidential runoff against a Russia-friendly opponent, in a race that was overshadowed by claims of Russian interference, voter fraud, and intimidation in the European Union candidate country.
With nearly 99 percent of votes counted in the second round of the presidential election held Sunday, Sandu had 54.7 percent of the vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission, or CEC, compared to 45.3 percent for Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor general who was backed by the pro-Russia Party of Socialists.
The result will be a major relief for the pro-Western government, which strongly backed Sandu’s candidacy, and her push for closer Western ties on Moldova’s path toward the EU.
“Moldova, you are victorious! Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books. Today, you have saved Moldova! In our choice for a dignified future, no one lost,” Sandu said after claiming victory after midnight.
But she went on to claim that her country’s vote had faced an “unprecedented attack” through alleged schemes including dirty money, vote-buying, and electoral interference “by hostile forces from outside the country” and criminal groups.
“You have shown that nothing can stand in the way of the people’s power when they choose to speak through their vote,” she added.
When polls closed locally at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), turnout stood at more than 1.68 million people — about 54 percent of eligible voters, according to the CEC. Moldova’s large diaspora, which cast ballots in record numbers of more than 325,000 voted, heavily in favor of Sandu in the runoff.
In the first round held Oct. 20, Sandu obtained 42 percent of the ballot but failed to win an outright majority over the second place Stoianoglo. The presidential role carries significant powers in areas such as foreign policy and national security and has a four-year term.
Allegations of vote-buying and Russian interference
Moldova’s diaspora played a key role in the presidential vote and in a nationwide referendum held on Oct. 20, when a narrow majority of 50.35 percent voted to secure Moldova’s path toward EU membership. But the results of the ballots including Sunday’s vote have been overshadowed by allegations of a major vote-buying scheme and voter intimidation.
Instead of winning the overwhelming support that Sandu had hoped, the results in both races exposed Moldova’s judiciary as unable to adequately protect the democratic process.
On Sunday, Moldovan police said they had “reasonable evidence” of organized transportation of voters — illegal under the country’s electoral code — to polling stations from within the country and from overseas, and are “investigating and registering evidence in connection with air transport activities from Russia to Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkiye.”
“Such measures are taken to protect the integrity of the electoral process and to ensure that every citizen’s vote is cast freely without undue pressure or influence,” police said.
Moldova’s foreign ministry said on Sunday afternoon that polling stations in Frankfurt, Germany, and Liverpool and Northampton in the UK had been targeted by false bomb threats, which “intended only to stop the voting process.”
Stanislav Secrieru, the president’s national security adviser, wrote on X: “We are seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process,” which he warned had a “high potential to distort the outcome” of the vote.
Secrieru later added that the national voter record systems were being targeted by “ongoing coordinated cyberattacks” to disrupt links between domestic polling stations and those abroad, and that cybersecurity teams were “working to counter these threats and ensure system continuity.”
Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that people throughout the country had received “anonymous death threats via phone calls” in what he called “an extreme attack” to scare voters in the former Soviet republic, which has a population of about 2.5 million people.
After casting her ballot in Chisinau, Sandu said “today, more than ever, we must be united, keep our peace, keep our vote, keep our independence.”
“Thieves want to buy our vote, thieves want to buy our country, but the power of the people is infinitely greater,” she told reporters.
Outside a polling station in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, 20-year-old medical student Silviana Zestrea said the runoff would be a “definitive step” toward Moldova’s future.
“People need to understand that we have to choose a true candidate that will fulfill our expectations,” she said. “Because I think even if we are a diaspora now, none of us actually wanted to leave.”
Moldovan police expose a scheme allegedly plotted by a convicted oligarch
In the wake of the two October votes, Moldovan law enforcement said that a vote-buying scheme was orchestrated by Ilan Shor, an exiled oligarch who lives in Russia and was convicted in absentia last year of fraud and money laundering. Shor denies any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors say $39 million was paid to more than 130,000 recipients through an internationally sanctioned Russian bank to voters between September and October. Anti-corruption authorities have conducted hundreds of searches and seized over $2.7 million (2.5 million euros) in cash as they attempt to crack down.
In one case in Gagauzia, an autonomous part of Moldova where only 5 percent voted in favor of the EU, a physician was detained after allegedly coercing 25 residents of a home for older adults to vote for a candidate they did not choose. Police said they obtained “conclusive evidence,” including financial transfers from the same Russian bank.
On Saturday, at a church in Comrat, the capital of Gagauzia, Father Vasilii told The Associated Press that he’s urged people to go and vote because it’s a “civic obligation” and that they do not name any candidates.
“We use the goods the country offers us — light, gas,” he said. “Whether we like what the government does or not, we must go and vote. ... The church always prays for peace.”
On Thursday, prosecutors raided a political party headquarters and said 12 people were suspected of paying voters to select a candidate in the presidential race. A criminal case was also opened in which 40 state agency employees were suspected of taking electoral bribes.
Moldova’s EU future at stake
Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told AP that whatever the outcome of the second round, it “will not deflate” geopolitical tensions. “On the contrary, I expect geopolitical polarization to be amplified by the campaign for the 2025 legislative elections.”
Moldovan law enforcement needs more resources and better-trained staff working at a faster pace to tackle voter fraud, he added, to “create an environment in which anyone tempted to either buy or sell votes knows there will be clear and fast consequences.”
Savlina Adasan, a 21-year-old economics student in Bucharest, said she voted for Sandu and cited concerns about corruption and voters uninformed about the two candidates.
“We want a European future for our country,” she said, adding that it offers “many opportunities, development for our country … and I feel like if the other candidate wins, then it means that we are going 10 steps back as a country.”
A pro-Western government has been in power in Moldova since 2021, and a parliamentary election will be held in 2025. Moldova watchers warn that next year’s vote could be Moscow’s main target.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moldova applied to join the EU. It was granted candidate status in June of that year, and in summer 2024, Brussels agreed to start membership negotiations. The sharp westward shift irked Moscow and significantly soured relations with Chisinau.
Since then, Moldovan authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of waging a vast “hybrid war,” from sprawling disinformation campaigns to protests by pro-Russia parties to vote-buying schemes that undermine countrywide elections. Russia has denied it is meddling.
 


Trump talks about reporters being shot and says he shouldn’t have left White House after 2020 loss

Trump talks about reporters being shot and says he shouldn’t have left White House after 2020 loss
Updated 04 November 2024
Follow

Trump talks about reporters being shot and says he shouldn’t have left White House after 2020 loss

Trump talks about reporters being shot and says he shouldn’t have left White House after 2020 loss
  • With Election Day fast approaching, Trump continues to promote falsehoods about elections and argue that he can only lose to Democrat Kamala Harris if he is cheated
  • That’s what he did four years ago, kicking off a process of fighting the election results that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol

LITITZ, Pennsylvania: Donald Trump gave a profane and conspiracy-laden speech two days before the presidential election, talking about reporters being shot and suggesting he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
In remarks Sunday that bore no resemblance to his standard speech in the campaign’s closing stretch, the former president repeatedly cast doubt on the integrity of the vote and resurrected old grievances about being prosecuted after trying to overturn his defeat four years ago. Trump intensified his verbal attacks against a “grossly incompetent” national leadership and the American media, steering his rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at one point on to the topic of violence against members of the press.
The GOP nominee for the White House noted the ballistic glass placed in front of him at events after a gunman’s assassination attempt in July at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump talked about places where he saw openings in that protection.
“I have this piece of glass here,” he said. “But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.”
It was the second time in recent days that Trump has talked about guns being pointed at people he considers enemies. He suggested former Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic, wouldn’t be willing to support foreign wars if she had “nine barrels shooting at her.”
With less than 48 hours before Election Day, Trump continues to promote falsehoods about elections and argue that he can only lose to Democrat Kamala Harris if he is cheated, even though polls suggest a tight race.
Some of his allies, notably former chief strategist Steve Bannon, have encouraged him to prematurely declare victory on Tuesday even if the race is too early to call. That’s what Trump did four years ago, kicking off a process of fighting the election results that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
For much of this year, Trump has run a relatively disciplined campaign that emphasized the issues and voters his aides believe could deliver him victory, even as he clung to false theories about voter fraud and went on frequent digressions stirring controversy. But that discipline is increasingly collapsing.
Trump in recent weeks has joked about golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia, continued using gendered or sexist language in his efforts to win over women and staged a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden that included crude and racist insults that dominated headlines.
Trump co-campaign manager Susie Wiles, long credited with bringing order to his often-chaotic political operation, watched the former president silently from off stage Sunday.
His campaign later sought to clarify his meaning in talking about the media.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.”
Harris was campaigning Sunday in Michigan, where she told a predominately Black church congregation in Detroit that God offers America a “divine plan strong enough to heal division.”
The two major candidates offered starkly different tones with the campaign almost at an end, as Harris said voters can reject “chaos, fear and hate.”
Trump usually veers from subject to subject, a discursive style he has labeled “the weave.” But outside the Lancaster airport, he went on long tangents and hardly mentioned his usual points on the economy, immigration and rote criticisms of Harris.
Trump referred to John Bolton, his former national security adviser and now a strident critic, as a “dumb son of a b— .” And he repeated familiar and debunked theories about voter fraud, alleging that Democrats could only win by cheating. Public polls indicate a tight and competitive race across the battleground states that will determine the Electoral College outcome.
“It’s a crooked country,” Trump said. “And we’re going to make it straight. We’re going to make it straight.”
Harris pushed back at Trump’s characterizations of US elections, telling reporters after the church service that Trump’s comments are “meant to distract from the fact that we have and support free and fair elections in our country.” Those “good systems” were in place in 2020, Harris said, and “he lost.”
The vice president said she trusts the upcoming vote tally and urged voters, “in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for this tactic, which I think includes, suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter.”
“Trump’s unhinged ramblings and dangerous rhetoric confirm what those closest to him have already told us: he is completely unfit to lead and would put our democracy and the rule of law at risk if given a chance,” Alex Floyd, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement, referring to former Trump aides who have warned against returning him to the White House, including retired military officers who said he’s a fascist.
Trump, for his part, acknowledged that he was sidestepping his usual approach with his conspiratorial speech. He repeatedly talked about disregarding the advice of his aides, repeating their feedback in a mocking voice and insisting that he had to talk about election fraud despite their objections.
Trump at one point suggested that he wouldn’t deliver this version of his speech again: “I hope you’ve enjoyed this,” he said, “because I’m only doing this one time.”
Indeed, his next speech a few hours later at an airport in Kinston, North Carolina, drifted between prepared remarks and familiar stories. Trump praised David McCormick, the businessman running for Senate in Pennsylvania, appearing to briefly lose track of his location but quickly recovering.
“Where’s David? Is he around some place?” Trump said. “You know we just left him. He’s a great guy.”
Some rallygoers began leaving almost immediately. One of them was Whitney Riley, 60, who said she desperately wanted to stay but had another event. She noted Trump started late.
“I got to see him land. I got to see him open,” said Riley, wearing Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” hat and an American flag scarf. “And that’ll have to be enough.”


Cyprus is committed to expanding defense ties with the US, says president

US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

Cyprus is committed to expanding defense ties with the US, says president

US President Joe Biden shakes hands during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, left.
  • Centerpiece of security cooperation is the US-funded center for port and maritime security known by its acronym CYCLOPS
  • Officials from neighboring countries including Libya, Yemen, and Lebanon, receive key training ranging from cybersecurity to ship inspections

NICOSIA: The president of Cyprus said Sunday his administration is committed to expanding defense and security cooperation with the US, as his meeting with American President Joe Biden last week charted a course for the “next ambitious steps” in bilateral relations that are currently at a “historic high.”
President Nikos Christodoulides says his government’s “clear foreign policy orientation” has resulted in deepening the Cyprus-US strategic partnership over the first 18 months of his five-year term in fields including law enforcement cooperation on countering money laundering and sanctions evasion, as well as energy.
A centerpiece of that security cooperation is the US-funded center for port and maritime security known by its acronym CYCLOPS where officials from neighboring countries including Libya, Yemen and Lebanon, receive key training ranging from cybersecurity to ship inspections.
Christodoulides said his Oct. 30 visit to the White House “is proof and recognition of the geostrategic role of Cyprus and the country’s potential and capabilities.”
“Cyprus can be a reliable ‘port of stability’ and at the same time a country that has a vision to transform its immediate region, alongside its partners, into a region of promise, stability, cooperation and prosperity,” Christodoulides said in an email response to an Associated Press questionnaire.
The Cypriot president said his administration is “certainly considering” procuring US-made weapons following the 2020 lifting of a decades-long arms embargo. But what must precede such purchases is for the US Congress to lift its embargo for an extended period. Currently, that is renewed annually.
Christodoulides said Cyprus’ geostrategic role is highlighted by the fact that since Sept. 27, some 3,635 third-country nationals from 29 countries have been repatriated through the island nation following their evacuation from Lebanon. He said several countries consider Cyprus an “assisted departure hub and a Temporary Safe Location (TSL)” where the island’s ports, airports and designated temporary accommodations are used for civilian or military-led departures. He did not specify those countries.
He said Cyprus is ready to respond if and when a mass evacuation from Lebanon is set in motion.
Another key initiative for which Cyprus has gained international plaudits and was singled out by Biden is the so-called Amalthea plan that saw the establishment of the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor through which some 20,000 metric tons of aid flowed into the Palestinian territory earlier this year.
Most of that aid reached Gaza through a US-built, $230 million temporary pier project that lasted about four months after being beset by turbulent weather, security threats and sweeping personnel restrictions.
Christodoulides said work is underway in cooperation with the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union, to re-activate the maritime route to Gaza through the Israeli port of Ashdod. Collected aid will be security-screened in Cyprus and shipped to Ashdod “for swift onward delivery to Gaza.”
“We maintain excellent, longstanding relations with our neighboring countries, underpinned by trust, and we have consistently acted as the region’s voice in the European Union, and as a reliable interlocutor and partner with all the states of the region,” Christodoulides said.
On his decision to invite FBI and US Department of Justice officials to help Cypriot law enforcement to halt Russian sanctions evasion through Cypriot lawyers and accountants, Christodoulides said, “we are strongly determined to clear our country’s name internationally and prove that Cyprus is a state fully aligned with the principles and values of the West.”
He said “several cases” of possible sanctions evasion are under investigation” and the aim is to bring them to justice as quickly as possible.”
Regarding energy cooperation, Christodoulides said the fact that both US energy giants ExxonMobil and Chevron are active in the search for hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ offshore economic zone is “a vote of confidence” in the island nation.
He said next year will be a “milestone” for both energy companies. ExxonMobil and partner QatarEnergy, which discovered a sizeable natural gas deposit in one of two areas, or blocks, they hold exploration licenses for, are scheduled to drill two additional wells in January of next year.
Chevron is expected to complete fine-tuning a revised development plan for its Aphrodite gas field, estimated to hold around 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“As the first gas from the Aphrodite is directed to the market, this automatically makes Cyprus a gas seller, which is extremely important not only in monetary terms but also for geopolitical reasons,” said Christodoulides.