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Commerce minister Praxoulla Antoniadou said,the Cyprus government is about to announce the second round of licensing for exploration in the remaining plots in Cyprus' EEZ and has asked interested companies to officially express their interest.

Antoniadou said the documents for the call for interest in the second round of licensing have been sent to Brussels to be translated and then published in the official journal of the European Union.

"The official announcement of the second round of licencing will be issued as soon as these documents are translated... I expect all translation work to be done soon,'' she said, adding that the announcement will be published ''around the end of the month.''

The announcement came before her visit to Tel Aviv today for a business forum, organized by the ministry, chamber of commerce and Israeli businessmen.

She said at the business forum she would deliver a speech on the prospects which are created by the discovery of natural gas in the region. 

Before the forum she will also meet with Israeli trade, tourism and energy ministers and a representative of the Israeli Prime Minister office.

"There seems to be great interest in participation from both Cyprus and Israeli businessmen''.

She said confirmation of significant quantities of hydrocarbons in Cyprus will encourage investors from other sectors to also invest in Cyprus.

Exploratory drilling has revealed a gross mean average of 7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas.

Cyprus has signed a bilateral agreement with Egypt and Israel to exploit any natural gas and oil reserves in its EEZ.

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