Vassilios Demetriades, a seasoned maritime policy expert at the European Union, has become Cyprus' new cabinet member in charge of shipping, after a government reshuffle on the Mediterranean island.
The move will see him replace the incumbent deputy minister for shipping, Natasa Pilides, who has been promoted to minister of energy, commerce and industry after a successful two years in the role.
Demetriades, 48, will be sworn in on Tuesday, according to local media.
He has been working for the past five years as a maritime policy officer at the European Commission, the EU's executive organ. Part of his brief was to coordinate the mid-term review of the EU's maritime transport strategy.
In a previous post between 2009 and 2013, he was head of the EU affairs unit at Cyprus' ministry of communications and works, which was in charge of shipping at the time.
Cyprus, one of the world's biggest shipmanagement hubs, has since spun off an independent ministry for maritime affairs, to highlight shipping's rising contribution to the economy of the divided island nation.
Demetriades has an master's degree in management from the University of Surrey.
The shipping portfolio has the rank of a deputy ministry in Cyprus' system of government. But that is for technical, constitutional reasons only. It is for all intents and purposes a stand-alone part of government and Demetriades' does not have a shipping minister ranking above him.
Pilides was the first to be appointed to the new maritime role two years ago and has since reorganised its tax regime and played a key role in repatriating its seafarers during the coronavirus lockdown.
President Nicos Anastasiades has appointed Pilides to follow on from Giorgos Lakkotrypis who has stepped down from the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry after more than seven years in office.
Rise of Pilides
Pilides was the head of Cyprus' investment promotion agency when she was appointed in February 2018.
She was the first government member to head the island republic's new, stand-alone deputy ministry for shipping.
The operation used to be the Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) which was part of a super-ministry for transport, communications and works.
The Cyprus parliament decided in 2017 to elevate the DMS' rank to highlight the importance the country attaches to shipping.
Praised for her enthusiasm and business nous, Pilides embarked on a mission to sell the island as a hub for global shipping.
In December, she succeeded in having the EU extend Cyprus' tonnage tax regime for 10 more years.
She said at the time that the number of Cypriot-flagged vessels had been growing steadily. It has more than 1,000 vessels of more than 24m gt.
In September, Pilides had come up with a plan to scrap ship registration fees to lure new owners to the flag.
Pilides, an accountant by training, said last year that the number of shipping companies on the island had doubled in six years to 203, operating under tax-resident status.
She told TradeWinds last week that the shipping ministry has expended a lot of time and energy liaising with embassies and countries to overcome bureaucracy since April, when it began working on crew changes on a case-by-case basis.
"It’s a puzzle, and it’s difficult to put together all the pieces to make sure it all comes together," she said.
A multi-lingual Oxford University graduate and a fellow chartered accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Pilides worked for nine years at PwC in Cyprus, Milan and London, offering audit, tax and consulting services to multinational companies
