The Cypriot government will not relegate the financial problems created by banks to the shoulders of the vulnerable, President Demetris Christofias said on Tuesday.
Addressing a charity gala of the Pancyprian Association for the Famine Relief, in Nicosia, the President said that the financial crisis and rising unemployment rates have hit low incomes, increasing the risk of vulnerable groups to come face to face with poverty and social exclusion.
He added that the government will not cease to protect such vulnerable groups, striving with all its efforts and through concrete policy measures to defend the social state and the display of solidarity.
The President of the Republic praised the contribution of social groups and volunteers to this aim. He added that the Association has provided throughout its 30 years of existence, aid worth 6.5 bln US dollars to African and Asian countries.
He said moreover that the effort to combat global famine is a responsibility that needs to be undertaken collectively by all world governments. The President also spoke about the need to form a political framework and create a development model that will put an end to the widening of social and financial inequalities.
Famine is spreading in African countries, President Christofias went on, adding that poverty, malnutrition and hunger are not just statistics, but refer to real people.
He said moreover that similar phenomena are becoming more and more apparent in European countries as well, with rising unemployment rates, shrinking incomes and the spread of poverty attesting that social contrasts are leading towards a deadlock.
