Dear Ambassador of our friendly
neighbouring country Lebanon, Dr. Youssef Sadaka,
Governor of District 2452 Jamil
Mouawad,
RI Zone Coordinator, Past District
Governor Doros Ieropoulos,
Rotary Leaders,
Rotarians,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to the Presidential
Palace.
It is a great honour for me to be
pinned twice as a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Clubs of Limassol and Nicosia
Lefkothea. I accept this award in full consciousness of its importance, as it is
the highest recognition offered to a non Rotarian, bearing the name of its
founder. I have no doubt that the $2,000 donated in my name by the two clubs
will be utilized by the Rotary Foundation for a worthy cause such as the
complete eradication of Polio from the planet.
Rotary is an outstanding
organization, which via its work around the globe is striving to make the world
a better place, through, amongst others, initiatives in support of health care,
education and the alleviation of poverty. I fully and wholeheartedly share your
mission.
Dear Governor Jamil,
It is a pleasure to welcome you and
Patricia to Cyprus and at the Presidential Palace.
I have seen and listened with great
interest to all that was presented here today about the crusade that Rotary
launched in the 1980s for the eradication of Polio, one of the most dreaded
diseases.
There is no doubt that what has been
achieved is remarkable; the systematic vaccination of 2.5 billion children even
in the most distant places of the world that led to a 99% decrease in the number
of Polio paralysis cases and its containment in only three endemic countries.
There is no doubt that such an
achievement required a lot of money, great organizational and operational
expertise, as well as thousands of hours of voluntary work by selfless
individuals; the epitome of Rotary and Rotarians.
But there can be no doubt, that
unless Polio is totally eradicated from the face of the earth, no child anywhere
in the world can feel safe.
I therefore fully support your
efforts to end Polio by 2018 and I commit myself to spread the message to other
world leaders, asking them to support Rotary’s effort.
I am aware of the significant community work
accomplished by Rotarians within Cyprus throughout the years. I urge you to
intensify your efforts, as the recent economic crisis has generated
unprecedented needs to a lot of our compatriots. Influential service
organizations such as Rotary have definitely a role to play supplementing the
efforts of the state.
Among the great achievement of
Cyprus Rotary is your success to unite Greek and Turkish Cypriot Rotarians under
the same roof, without politics being a stumbling block for cooperation among
you. You are a living example that the two communities can live and work
harmoniously together for the common good.
You are an example that we
politicians should imitate in order to reunite our country. I therefore extend a
special welcome to the Turkish Cypriots Rotarians who are among us
tonight.
For all these reasons it is my pleasure to put this
event under my auspices and I would wholeheartedly like to wish every success in
your efforts to End Polio Now. On behalf of my wife Andri and myself, I would
like to once more welcome you all tonight at the Presidential Palace and wish
you a pleasant and enjoyable night.
