Government policies support rural communities, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday night opening the House of Cultural Activities and the Missing in Kyperounta.

The €1.6 million building is part of the project started by the previous government for the redevelopment of the old neighbourhood of Kyperounta at a total cost of over €8 million.

The project is being implemented through the development budget with a budget of €500,000 per year until the completion of the entire old neighbourhood, with the next phase set to see the construction of a Museum of Folk Art and Natural History and guesthouses already underway.

The newly opened building has a seminar/lecture hall with a capacity for up to 190 people and a second smaller hall with a capacity for 70 people.

Christodoulides said that once accommodation spaces has been completed it will be suitable for use by the Cyprus presidency of the European Council in the first half of 2026.

“I have spoken with the deputy minister for European Affairs and it is already being studied which meeting will take place in this area,” he added.

The House of the Missing Person was created on the initiative of Androula Aristodemos and honours the struggle of mothers of the missing.

The interest of the state and the president personally in the countryside is well known, Christodoulides said, “which we want to give the place it deserves, to acquire even more life”.

“Very important work and infrastructure has been done in recent years,” he added, “ we want to attract young people and especially families, where they will be able to live, to work and create in conditions of dignity, development and prosperity”.

He also said works for the further upgrade of the Troodos regional hospital are proceeding on schedule, with a total budget of €6 million while works for the creation of a radiology ward and pulmonary clinic are in progress at a cost of €320,000.

He said another project that will contribute to the upgrading of the area is the Sports Centre of Agros with an estimated cost of €3.8 million.

At the same time, he noted that the Troodos Observatory, in the neighboring community of Agridia, the inauguration of which took place last year, is expected to open to the public very soon.

The village of Kyperounta is also among those set to receive crushers to make it easier to manage plant growth and clear areas that present a fire hazard.

He stressed that the most important thing for any government is that such “announcements and plans do not remain in drawers but are put into practice, because our goal is to create the conditions that will allow all of you, the inhabitants of the countryside, to live, work and create, safely and with dignity, to enjoy the joys of life and even more so to offer the same opportunities, especially in the field of education and health”.

At the same event, former President Nicos Anastasiades was awarded an honorary plaque for the contribution of his government to the mountainous communities.

Anastasiades expressed his certainty that with the interest shown by previous governments in addition to the current one “the mountain communities and their inhabitants will be given life again”.