The Republic of Cyprus brought over €188 million worth of goods from Turkey in 2023, Green Line trade expert Kemal Baykalli said on Thursday.

Speaking to Kibris Postasi TV, he said that during the same period, the Turkish Cypriot community sold just €16m worth of goods to the Republic of Cyprus, and that imports from the Turkish Cypriot community make up just 0.3 per cent of the Republic of Cyprus’ total imports.

As such, he said, “a market which receives a high volume of goods from many countries around the world presents a significant opportunity for Turkish Cypriot producers”.

Asked what can be done for Turkish Cypriots to be able to export more goods to the Republic of Cyprus, he said that “the policy followed during the Ersin Tatar era had hardened the attitude of the Greek Cypriot side”, in reference to the former Turkish Cypriot leader’s insistence on a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.

“In the past, products which met approximately 70 per cent of the quality standards could pass through the Green Line, but in recent years, it has been required that they meet full standards,” he said.

This, he said, “has made Green Line trade more difficult”, though he did stress that “trade could be facilitated with a change in attitudes towards the Cyprus problem”.

Trade between Cyprus’ two sides is facilitated by the Green Line regulation, which was adopted on April 29, 2004, two days before the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union.

The regulation was adopted in response to the failure of the Annan plan referendum five days earlier, with Turkish Cypriots having accepted the plan, which would have reunified the island, and Greek Cypriots having rejected it.

The European Union had earlier said that the €16m of goods sent southwards over the Green Line was a “stark jump” from the €6.2m recorded in 2021, and in 2023 created the EU One Stop Shop, with the aim of supporting Cypriot businesses to trade across the Green Line.

The One Stop Shop, the EU said, is “designed to provide information, advice, and support to both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot producers and traders interested in trading across the Green Line.”

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos has described the Green Line Regulation as “a tool to assist reunification”, and said his ministry is in “full cooperation” with the European Commission regarding the regulation’s implementation, and that his ministry has “as a guiding principle” compliance with it.

“We want to strike a balance between the obligations we have and the use of the regulation as a tool for the reunification of our island,” he said, adding that the checks carried out at crossing points “should not be seen as something negative because they stem from the Republic of Cyprus’ obligations.”