Nicos Anastasiades

By Michele Kambas

Cyprus freed capital flows on Monday, ending two years of controls that set an unwanted precedent for the euro zone at the height of the bloc's debt crisis.

The Mediterranean nation became the first and, to date, the only euro zone member to impose controls, acting to stem a flight of capital from its banks in March 2013.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had telephone contact with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades late on Saturday. Government sources state that the two men discussed the latest political and economic developments.

The Cypriot President is set to visit Athens on April 17 to brief Athens on the planned talks he is having with U.N. Special Adviser on the Cyprus issue Espen Eide.

A Cypriot government spokesman has said that comments by President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday that Cyprus had drafted a plan to deal with the fallout of a possible Greek euro exit were misinterpreted.

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, said on Monday the his country has been preparing for a Grexit scenario and stressed that the Cypriot banking system is immune to the crisis in neighboring Greece.

Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades told a media conference in Nicosia on Friday that Nicosia has a backup plan to deal with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the eurozone.

By Paul Tugwell and Georgios Georgiou

Cyprus will lift next week the last of the capital controls that were imposed two years ago as part of a 10-billion euro ($10.9 billion) European bailout.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday welcomed the departure of Turkish seismic vessel Barbaros from the island's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), adding however that it was important that Ankara did not issue a new maritime order, or Navtex.

Turkish Cypriots said on Monday they were suspending their gas exploration off the coast of Cyprus and that the Barbaros seismic vessel, whose presence within the Mediterranean island?s maritime zone caused Nicosia to pull out of peace talks last year, will soon return to Turkey.

Turkish Cypriots say they have halted their own search for gas off the east Mediterranean island's coast in the latest sign that suspended reunification talks could restart soon.
     
Özdil Nami, the Turkish Cypriot foreign minister, told The Associated Press March 30 that a Turkish vessel that has been searching for gas the last few months will be sent back to Turkey.

On his first official visit abroad since becoming Greek president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos visited Cyprus on Monday, where he backed Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades?s decision last year to suspend reunification talks on the island after a Turkish research vessel entered the country?s exclusive economic zone.