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- Ελληνικά
The President of the Republic Mr.Nicos Christodoulides chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Presidential Palace today.
After the meeting, in a statement to journalists, Government Spokesman Mr. Constantinos Letibiotis said: "Today we are implementing another important reform of the President's governance programme, in the context of the reorganization of the state and the promotion of participatory democracy, the appointment of the members of the Boards of Directors (BoD) of 11 semi-governmental organizations through the process of the Advisory Council.
For the first time, our fellow citizens had the opportunity to participate in the Boards of these organisations through an open, transparent, merit-based process. A process that we believe not only empowers capable individuals who, under other circumstances, would not have the opportunity to serve in these positions, but also contributes to further modernising and upgrading the important work that these organisations perform and to accelerating the implementation of our governance programme.
Society's confidence in a process of equal opportunities and transparent procedures is also demonstrated by the increased interest shown in the expression of interest process, with a total of 1,078 expressions of interest for these 11 agencies. It is worth noting that 815 expressions of interest, or 76%, were from our fellow citizens, while 24%, i.e. 263 of our fellow citizens, expressed interest.
The Advisory Council recommended a total of 338 persons to the Council of Ministers, 72% - 172 men, 28% - 66 women, through the lists of recommendations it drew up. The Advisory Council's lists of recommendations were compiled on the basis of an objective evaluation of all and any nominees, based on the best interests of each organization. The Council of Ministers, exercising its constitutional powers, decided to appoint a total of 85 persons to the Boards of Directors of the 11 agencies, 10 agencies today and the Board of Directors of DEFA on 4 January 2024 - of which 34% are women, and especially in the positions of Chairmen of the Boards of Directors of the agencies 40% are women, the same percentage of women also in the positions of Vice-Chairmen. It is recalled that the organizations for which the members of the Boards of Directors are currently selected are ATHK, AHK, Cyprus Ports Authority, RIK, COAG, Licensing Authority, Urban Planning Council, COA, Council for Registration and Control of Contractors, Building and Technical Works and THOC. In addition to the 11 semi-governmental organisations that were included in the Advisory Council procedure, the Council of Ministers today appointed the Boards of Directors of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tender Review Authority, the Fiscal Council, the Cyprus Investment Attraction Agency, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency, the Cyprus University of Technology, the Open University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra Foundation. The detailed composition of the Boards will be made public subsequently.
We wish the new Boards a good and productive term of office and look forward to a close and beneficial cooperation in order to fulfil the ambitious goals of the organisations and to meet the challenges. Our ambitious governance programme, our social contract with the Cypriot people, will be implemented and the semi-governmental organisations are certainly important partners and arms in this great effort. We are confident that in this collective effort we will succeed in upgrading our country so that it becomes an even more modern, more efficient and more citizen-friendly state.
We wish to express our sincere thanks to the members of the Advisory Council for the excellent work they have done in evaluating the expressions of interest and the final preparation of their recommendations. They have been instrumental in the successful implementation of this important reform.
In the near future, the President of the Republic will hold a meeting with the members of the Advisory Council to evaluate this first process as it has been implemented, and to exchange views and any suggestions for its further improvement.
We also thank each of our fellow citizens who expressed interest in participating in the Boards of these organizations, demonstrating in practice the trust of society in transparent and meritocratic procedures and highlighting the remarkable human potential of our country in a wide range of disciplines.
We recall that the procedure concerning the expression of interest for participation in the Board of the English School of Nicosia has been ongoing since 12 January.
Statements of interest will be posted on gnomodotiko.gov.cy and on the website of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and the expression of interest will last until 26 January at 8:00 a.m.
We once again invite our fellow citizens who are interested in contributing to the work of these organizations to express their interest."
Asked if all persons appointed to the Boards of the agencies have been selected by the Advisory Council, the Representative said : "For 85 persons, 95% (of those selected) were selected in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Council. Five cases where it was not done as per the recommendations of the Council are for those organisations where the Advisory Board has not selected even one of the existing members of the organisation. Hence the Council of Ministers for the sake of smooth transition in the operation and continuity of the agency has chosen to appoint persons who have served on the previous Board, just to have that smooth transition. But 95% of it is in accordance with the Advisory Board process."
In response to another question, Mr. Letybiotis said: "The majority of them are new members, but this parameter that the Cabinet has set as a basic requirement in all organisations, that there are some members who have served on a previous Board, is just so that each organisation can continue its work."
(PM/ΘΘ/ΑΦ)
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