Cyprus to pay €25m for GSI after Navtex for survey resumption, president says

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus will pay €25 million towards the Great Sea Interconnector once a Navtex is issued for the resumption of seismic surveys, President Nikos Christodoulides said, citing an agreement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Christodoulides said the funding had been included in the state budget for last year and again this year.

Agreement with Greece

In an interview with Plus TV, Christodoulides said Cyprus and Greece had agreed that the payment would be made when a Navtex notice is issued for the start of seismic surveys.

“We agreed that Cyprus will pay the €25 million as soon as the Navtex is issued for the start of the seismic surveys,” he said.

He said the agreement would be honoured and rejected suggestions of friction between Nicosia and Athens over the project.

“There is absolutely no friction with Athens,” he said, adding that claims of differing approaches were unfounded.

Previous conditions and survey timetable

In September 2025, Christodoulides said that “certain things” needed to be implemented before Cyprus made the payment, while noting that delays affected the project’s viability. He said €25 million had been allocated in the state budget for both 2025 and 2026.

Energy Minister Michael Damianos has said a Navtex notice from the Greek government for the resumption of maritime surveys was expected within weeks. He also dismissed suggestions that private business interests in Cyprus were pressuring the government over the project.

Damianos said completion was expected around the end of 2031 but that it was not appropriate to set a firm timetable given the scale of the work.

Financial assessment

In an April interview with the Cyprus Mail, Damianos said no final decision on the Great Sea Interconnector could be made without a full understanding of its financial burden.

“Someone is going to pay the bill,” he said. “And whoever is going to pay needs to know what that bill is going to be.”