Statements by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou during a meeting with community leaders of the Commandaria region, at the Commandaria Museum in Zoopigi, Limassol.

 

 

5 February 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Today we came here to the villages of the Commandaria (Note: amber-coloured, sweet, fortified wine) region to discuss the problems and prospects for the production and promotion of this traditional, historical and excellent Cypriot product that is coumadaria. In the presence of representatives and heads of the local communities of the area, together with representatives of the Union of Cypriot Farmers (EKA), we discussed these issues. I can say that what emerges from the discussion is that for the production and promotion of this product an overall policy needs to be elaborated and applied, which unfortunately does not exist.

We have a valuable precious product and we are not promoting it for the good of our Cyprus. We should preserve this historic traditional product and at the same time offer a perspective for its production, whilst also representing a serious means for ensuring development for the communities and the whole region.

On the occasion of our presence here with a large delegation of AKEL, we were able to discuss once again problems the region and the mountainous areas in general are facing, such as the issue of housing schemes. I should say that as a result of our tour we made just before the holidays in the region, we sent a letter to the Interior Minister on the problems the housing schemes face, outlining specific proposals on how they could be improved to address specific needs and problems.  We also discussed the issues of the roads for both Saita and Agros and other issues local communities are confronted with.

What we shall do is what we do every time.  We send specific letters and make representations to the relevant Ministers and agencies and where necessary we take the issues and problems to the House of Representatives to be discussed and promoted. Furthermore, where we can and have the right to do so we table specific legislative proposals. We shall act in the same way now because our goal is for these visits to have an effect and for this effect to have a positive outcome for local communities and residents of the mountainous areas.