The first formal meeting aimed at twinning Paphos with Herzliya in Israel took place at the Paphos town hall on Friday 10th of June 2016.
Herzliya is considered part of the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Israel. It is home to many high-tech companies, and residents of Herzliya are among the wealthiest in Israel. Israel’s largest television and film studio is located here and it also has a marina, a small airport, three shopping malls, movie theatres, museums, cultural centres and a stadium.
“There are established, large and well-known multinational high-tech companies operating in the region, while the city itself has a long experience in this field, through substantial investment and infrastructure,” a spokesman for Paphos municipality.
He said that the policy of Paphos municipality is to look for advances in this field and establish Paphos as the Cyprus centre for new and emerging technologies.
“Tourism and development are not enough for Paphos, our aim is to turn activities into this new field as well.”
He said that there are a number of reasons why Paphos wanted to twin Israel: it’s a neighbour, it would keep the ‘balance’ following a recent twinning with Amman and strengthen official cooperation’s and agreements already in place between the two governments, he noted.
“We also have so much in common both historically and culturally and many tourists from Israel already visit Cyprus. We also send many there, especially to visit Jerusalem,” he said.
The two delegations were led by their respective mayors Phedonas Phedonos and Moshe Fadlon and members of the relevant committees and other officials. The Deputy Ambassador of Israel to Cyprus, Sami Abu Janeb, and the head of the CTO office in Israel, Louisa Varakla, were also be present.