Christodoulides: each country should ‘run faster’ to halt climate change

President Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday that each country should “run much faster” to halt climate change.

Christodoulides is in Dubai for the United Nations’ COP28 summit, and added that in Cyprus, he wants to “start gradually to turn some of our communities, some of our villages, into green communities and green villages. This is our first goal.”

He said the second goal is to build a culture based on the fact that what Cyprus is experiencing today concerns the entire population.

“Today, it is mainly the new generation in our country and at an international level who are dealing with this issue, and justifiably so, because they are worried about this issue. However, this concerns the entire population, so we need to build a culture which reflects the need to address all these impacts at once,” he said.

“Everyone knows that our own country, and by extension our own region, faces particular challenges.”

He went on to refer to COP28 as “one of the most important world summits”.

Additionally, he held a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines summit on Saturday.

He met Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Gambian Vice President Muhammad BS Jallow, as well as attending an event for heads of state participating in COP28 to celebrate the United Arab Emirates’ national day.

Following the conclusion of these meetings, he is due to return to Cyprus on Saturday evening.