The President of the Republic, Mr Nikos
Anastasiades, started his participation at the Conference of the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that is taking place in Colombo, Sri
Lanka, with an intervention in the proceedings and with meetings with heads of
governments.
The President of the Republic, who is
participating in today’s first day of the proceedings of the Conference, took
part in the morning opening ceremony of the 2013 Commonwealth Conference.
Subsequently, the President of the
Republic participated in the proceedings of the Conference, during which he
made an intervention during the session on “Growth with Equity”.
Later on, the President attended a
reception hosted by Prince Charles of Wales, who is representing the leader of
the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II. The reception was attended by the leaders
of Commonwealth member-states, who were elected as heads of state or government
after 2011, when the last Commonwealth Conference took place in Australia.
On the sidelines of the proceedings of the
Conference, the President of the Republic had separate meetings with the Prime
Minister of Australia, Mr Tony Abbott and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
During his meetings President Anastasiades
referred to the latest developments on the Cyprus problem with special emphasis
on the need to create a new momentum in the process to find a solution, and to
the efforts to achieve an agreement on a joint declaration between the two
communities.
In his intervention at the proceedings,
the President of the Republic said, among other things, that “Cyprus has been
particularly affected by the financial crisis. This has led, inter alia, to an
unprecedented increase in unemployment. In tackling this, we have implemented a
series of measures that aim mostly in curbing unemployment.
Furthermore, we are working towards the
implementation of a Youth Guarantee Plan. This plan will include sustainable
measures aimed at tackling youth
unemployment and will become part of a wider action plan aimed at addressing
unemployment.
As regards social protection, Cyprus has
already adopted measures to safeguard the long-term financial sustainability of
the Social Insurance Scheme. We are also working towards reforming our social
welfare system in order to rationalize it and make it more targeted. The basis
of the new welfare policy to be put in place by mid- 2014, is the Guaranteed
Minimum Income that will ensure a minimum level of social protection and a
decent standard of living for all.”
He added that the “the implementation of
an integrated approach that secures sustainable growth through competitiveness,
adaptability, access to employment, job-creation and ensuring a minimum level
of social protection for all, is essential for achieving inclusive
development.”
The President of the Republic noted that
“we need to redefine our policies in a way that they are accessible to all, and
responsive to the changing needs in today´s global market.”
In concluding, the President said that
tackling unemployment, and especially youth unemployment, should remain a
priority for Commonwealth States, by introducing measures, which will, inter
alia, support vulnerable groups of society.
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