The CMMI held yesterday a small ceremony at its premises for the traditional Vasilopita cake cutting.

CMMI had the honor to welcome for this event, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Annita Demetriou and H.E the Ambassador of the United States of America, Mrs. Judith Garber.

The Vasilopita cake cutting is a time-honored custom of the Greek & Cypriot families that takes place on New Year’s Day to bless the house and bring good luck for the new year. This is also a tradition followed by many businesses during the first months of the year. There is a hidden coin baked inside the cake and the individual who gets the piece with the coin is considered the “lucky” one for the year ahead.

Ms. Constantina Ioannou, a Junior Scientist of CMMI who joined us recently with a background in Mechanical Engineering, was the ‘lucky’ one this year and together with the coin CMMI gave a replica of a Copper Talanto (ingot) as a gift. The Greek word ‘Talanton'(talent) means ‘balance, sum, weight’, and it was used as a measurement unit, in gold and silver, which was then used as a legal tender in the trading transactions of that era. Mr. Andreas Vyras, Mayor of Larnaca & Chairman of CMMI presented two more gifts to the two honorary visitors to thank them for their presence during our ceremony.

During the ceremony, Mr. Zacharias Siokouros, CEO of CMMI, indicated that we are already in the 2^nd year of the UN Decade for Ocean Sciences and unfortunately precious time to save nature and the oceans has been lost over the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He then referred to the statement by Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, at a U.N. news conference last Thursday that “This year must be the year of the oceans. This year must be the year of biodiversity and it is essential to get plastics under control and the only way to do it is globally”. Mr. Siokouros underlined that CMMI is now in its 2^nd year of operation and is ready to contribute to this global effort. Furthermore, Mr. Siokouros announced that he will be attending on behalf of Cyprus at the forthcoming ‘Our Ocean Conference’ on 13^th and 14^th of April in the Pacific Island nation of Palau, invited by Mr. Surangel S. Whipps, Jr., President of the Republic of Palau and Mr. John F. Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

In her statement Mrs. Annita Demetriou mentioned that ‘the Institute is already delivering cutting edge research, inter-disciplinary partnerships and high calibre contributions’ and that she ‘utilised this opportunity to hear more about the Institute’s projects and R&D initiatives and discuss new ways the House of Representatives can further facilitate the research endeavours of excellence in Cyprus’.

In turn, H.E Mrs. Garber thanked the CMMI for Inviting her on this symbolic ceremony and once again pointed out her support towards the Institute and its activities.