President Nikos Christodoulides announced on Saturday additional financial support for the Cyprus Scout Association.

Energy Minister George Papanastasiou delivered a speech, on behalf of Christodoulides, during an event in honor of thee scouts’ patron Saint George, in Limassol, in which he said that the scouts movement in Cyprus goes back many years, to 1913, when Cypriot volunteers brought the ideals of the world scouts movement from Alexandria, Egypt.

The president announced additional financial support of 20,000 euros for the scouts association, following the increase in state sponsorship from 50,000 to 70,000 two years ago. The support will be allocated in a period of five years and will be used in order to upgrade the association’s camping sites islandwide.

He spoke of the ideals and virtues of the scouts movement adding that with the foundation of the Cyprus Republic in 1960, the Cyprus Scout Association was internationally recognised as a member of the World Scouts Organization.

The Cyprus Scouts Association has more than 5,000 members who are active through 50 systems throughout Cyprus.