The President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades has stressed the need to be decisive, saying delaying tactics could be damaging to the county. He also highlighted the need for structural reforms to help economic recovery, saying he is optimistic about the future.
“One of the lessons we must all draw from the recent economic crisis is that we must be decisive, delaying necessary action – due to fear perhaps of political cost can be very detrimental to the country,” President Anastasiades said, addressing the award ceremony of Nemitsas Foundation for fine arts.
The President also referred to a crucial, difficult but hopeful negotiating process for a solution to the Cyprus problem.
According to an official announcement issued here today, President Anastasiades stressed that economic developments are rapid, particularly when credibility and trust are eroded, and recession can follow in a speedy, spiral manner.
“The second lesson we can draw is that promoting structural reforms delivers even in the short term. In Cyprus, it was the loss of confidence that led to the whirlwind of events. To regain the credibility and trust, effective action and real reform is required. Commitment and decisiveness are vital”.
It is universally accepted that the full benefits of the structural reforms are obtained in the long term, and in the case of Cyprus, even a long time after the government’s term, he added.
Nonetheless, structural reforms are of utmost importance also in the short term, because they act as a catalyst to regain the country’s lost credibility and trust, the President said. “We have every reason to be hopeful and optimistic about the future,” he pointed out.
“If we succeed in reaching a comprehensive settlement, firmly anchored on European values and principles, I have no doubt that our future will be most promising, and that Cyprus and its people will prosper in a secure, modern European country, in which we will honour distinguished Cypriots in all fields,” he said, referring to the ongoing negotiations to reunite the country, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
It is in this effort, he continued, “that we, the politicians, should emulate these gifted artists such as Christodoulos Panayiotou, to transform our vision into a creation that will bring about admiration and praise by all those who will be fortunate to experience it.”
Politicians rarely express themselves on fine arts because it is a field with which, as a general rule, most of them have little affinity, President stressed. “Perhaps we are even intimidated by artists due to the fact that they express themselves in a very different way to us. They express themselves through their work, which is sometimes allegorical, other times hyperbolic, surrealist or even at times harshly realist”, he said.
Nonetheless, he noted, politicians and artists are united by a crucial common point: politicians, as well as artists, have an obligation to contribute to the development of society, of a world with critically thinking citizens.
He referred to an impressive biography of Christodoulos Panayiotou who has achieved distinctions through his art, in a cosmopolitan manner, as someone who can create art in Brazil with references to the history of Cyprus. “And what is remarkable is that wherever he is, he manages to stir the interest of the audience”.
President Anastasiades thanked Panayiotou, Nemitsas Foundation, Takis and Loukis Nemitsas, the Academic Council, the Secretary and the Coordinator of the Foundation, for their contribution to the country.
