Thank you for the kind invitation of the Troullo community to join my colleague, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, at tonight's event on the occasion of the feast of the Three Hierarchs and the Greek Letters.
Event dedicated to the award:
- the students, who excelled in their performance in their subjects,
- the students who excelled in national olympiads and competitions of the Ministry of Education and Culture and other organized groups, -those who have managed to secure places in Higher and Higher Educational Institutions in Greece and Cyprus, and
-those students who have succeeded in excelling in sports.
Today we are reopening the gates to an institution of the Troulos Community that has been established for years, but which, due to the pandemic, was suspended. So it is with great pleasure that we are here with our students to honour the fortitude, determination and hard work they have shown to achieve their goal. Because, ladies and gentlemen, it is important that excellence is both rewarded and that the pursuit of good sportsmanship becomes a model for our society.
Every success you achieve, dear students, is a precursor to greater success in your lives. I hope you will always set high goals and hold firmly at the top. Worthy of praise, of course, are your parents, the unsung heroes who stand by your side and support your dreams.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The pursuit of excellence is the pinnacle of cultivation, a constant battle for improvement, starting from our principles and knowledge, enriched throughout life, cultivated, tested and shaped by the passage of time and the assimilation of experience.
We are heirs to a brilliant, timeless culture, which over the years has taught us that excellence is not just about standing out through ability and success. It is our ethos, our way of life and our attitude that can make us stand out.
In the formation of this culture and its education, the contribution of the three greatest luminaries of the Tridentine Divinity, the Three Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, whose memory we celebrate today, is pivotal. These great Cappadocian Fathers and Ecumenical Doctors, the finest of the aristocrats of their time, with excellent studies in "Thyrathenic wisdom", that is, philosophy, rhetoric, physics, astronomy and medicine, were models of moral excellence and altruism.
The three ascetics, wise educators of youth, great ecclesiastical writers, teachers and guides of the World, by their course and action in the world, as well as their momentous work, succeeded in laying the foundation stone of theological science, making a decisive contribution to the consolidation of Christianity and the formulation of the Church's teaching in later centuries. Throughout the centuries, the Three Hierarchs have been the patrons of the Scriptures. They achieved a harmonious fusion of Greek education with the Christian faith, and left us hundreds of works in which we discover the most basic pedagogical principles that are still valid today, for their enormous social work that reveals to an excellent degree the "good and benevolent man".
Their struggles are characterized by love and solidarity towards their fellow man, and their wise words, overcoming the ravages of time, are always relevant and become spiritual nourishment and a compass in the course of many people's lives. With these ideals, dear young men and women, I wish you to walk in your later life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to take the opportunity of my presence here today to congratulate the President and the members of the Community Council for today's initiative. An event that aims, among other things, to bring together and keep the Community together, while motivating and stimulating young people. Most importantly, I would like to commend them for their tireless and efficient efforts for the progress and prosperity of your Community and for attracting new residents for its further development.
And I am referring, dear ones, to the request that they have submitted along with the other fringe Communities of Mammari, Deneia and also Athienou to be upgraded and included in the upgraded category of the Ministry of Interior's rural housing schemes to make the applicants of your Community recipients of greater financial benefits. This is something I have also announced at today's press conference to review the work of the Ministry of Interior: That precisely at the next Cabinet meeting we will announce the announcement of the housing projects, through which the request of the Trullo Community is being implemented.
The goal of the Anastasiades government is to continue on this development path that we started through hard work since July 2019 for the development of municipalities and communities in our mountainous, marginal and rural areas and therefore, we are consistently proceeding with the re-announcement of improved housing plans, with the available funds for 2023 reaching €20 million.
The exceptional upgrading of communities located entirely within the neutral zone will enable you to enjoy even more benefits. The upgrades are important, and the increases are given for the obvious reasons: to boost your population density by attracting or retaining young people in your villages.
From 2019 to date, when the rural and mountain housing plans are implemented, the Ministry of Interior has approved in the community of Trullo 8 applications to beneficiaries and has granted around €350,000. I am sure that, on the basis of the new criteria and financial support, the applications will now multiply, and the best possible use will be made of them.
The requests of the Communities, ladies and gentlemen, aimed at the development of the place and the well-being of its inhabitants, are a high priority for us. This, after all, has been the goal of the ten-year government of Nicos Anastasiades: to build and deliver to the citizens of our country more developed local communities that meet modern requirements.
With the next local elections in May 2024, when we will enter the new self-governing era, and the unification of Trullo with the neighbouring municipality of Aradippou and the Community of Cells, new prospects for your Community are emerging.
With stronger municipalities and clusters of communities closer to the citizen, residents will enjoy improved, higher quality and upgraded services at the lowest possible cost.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear children,
In conclusion, on behalf of both my colleagues and the President of the Republic himself, I would like to wish you again the best in your careers and assure you that the Community of Trullo "of tomorrow" will be even stronger and stronger to continue its work and its contribution to the country. You are the locusts of the Hellenism of our Cyprus and that is how we treat you.
Happy New Year and all the best to each and every one of you.
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