TOURISM, CULTURE, 100 CLIMATE NEUTRAL CITIES
The first steps towards rewarming the relations between Ioannina and Limassol were made today in Ioannina during the meeting held in his office by the mayor of Ioannina, Thomas Begas, with the deputy mayor of Limassol, Neophytos Charalambidis and the President of the Health and Environment Committee of the Cypriot municipality, Kostas Giallouro.
The presence of the two representatives of the municipality of Limassol in Ioannina was the result of an invitation by the mayor of Ioannina to participate in the events for the “Eleftheria” of the city.
During the meeting, in which the Deputy Mayors of Culture and Tourism, Minas Paschopoulos and Christos Tatsis, also participated, the possibility of implementing a series of actions aimed at closer cooperation between Ioannina and Limassol in areas such as tourism, culture and education was examined.
Special mention was made of the joint participation of the two municipalities in the network of 100 climate-neutral cities and Climanet, with the two parties agreeing to the establishment of a joint action group consisting of specific partners – representatives of the two municipalities who have been charged with these particularly important missions in order for the cooperation between Ioannina and Limassol to be continuous and seamless.
At the same time, details were discussed for the organization of events both in Ioannina and Limassol in honor of the late mayor of the Cypriot city, Christodoulos Sozos, who fell in the battle for the liberation of Ioannina in 1912.
As far as tourism is concerned, a large part of the discussion was devoted to the air link between Ioannina and Larnaca, an effort which started but did not last as long as both sides would have liked.
Mr. Charalambidis emphasized how important he considers the reconnection of Cyprus with Ioannina, mainly due to the large number of Cypriots in our region, with Mr. Bega overstating the issue, confirming the continued interest of Ioannina in their air connection with Larnaca .
In this direction, it was agreed that there should be joint actions in order to investigate the possibility of resuming flights from Ioannina to Cyprus and vice versa.
“It is my deep conviction that cooperation at the level of municipalities is the basis on which very important development initiatives for our citizens can be built.
City diplomacy is a key tool to achieve our goals in various areas where cooperation may exist.
Today we laid the foundations to rekindle the relations between Ioannina and Limassol and I am happy because I found that the Cypriot colleagues share the same attitude.
I am sure that by joining our forces we will achieve a lot”, said Mr. Begas after the end of the meeting.
