Cyprus Urges Shipping Rules That Reflect National Circumstances at Busan Talks With Norway

Busan, South Korea. Cyprus argued that international shipping regulations should take account of national circumstances, as Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis held talks on Monday with her Norwegian counterpart during high-level maritime discussions.

Meeting with Norway

Hadjimanolis met Marianne Sivertsen Næss, Norway’s Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy, on the margins of the World Maritime Day Parallel Event 2026. The event gathered government representatives and international maritime officials to look at how worldwide shipping agreements are applied in practice.

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The two ministers compared views on developments affecting the industry, in particular the negotiations under way in the European Union and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). They underlined the value of international cooperation, while acknowledging that individual countries face different circumstances when drafting and implementing maritime rules.

Role in the event

Earlier, Hadjimanolis attended the opening ceremony. She also took part in a ministerial roundtable with representatives of South Korea and Norway and with IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez.

Uncertainty over LNG as a marine fuel

Shipowners linked to Cyprus face renewed uncertainty over the future of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel. Governments are preparing to restart talks on global emissions rules that could change operating costs and investment decisions across the industry.

The dispute centres on the IMO’s proposed Net-Zero Framework, which would set new emissions standards and impose financial obligations on vessels that do not comply. The situation has grown more complicated because the US is pressing for wider recognition of LNG and other transitional fuels, while also challenging plans for an international fund financed through emissions-related payments.

For shipowners, the implications reach well beyond environmental policy. Companies have already committed substantial capital to vessels built to run on LNG, and the way the fuel is treated in the final rules could determine whether those investments stay commercially attractive.

Investment funds and pensions

Cyprus’s €11.2 billion investment fund sector is prepared to help strengthen the Second Pillar of the pension system, according to Maria Panayiotou, president of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). She said the sector could do so through contemporary, transparent and dependable European investment instruments.