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As prepared for delivery...
BSP’s Diabetes Awareness Conference
Remarks by Ambassador Klosson
Ledra Palace Hotel, Cyprus
January 24, 2004
Welcome.
This is the first bicommunal medical conference focused solely on diabetes to take place in Cyprus. I am pleased the U.S. Embassy has blazed this trail.
The Embassy’s Bicommunal Support Program (BSP) has selected diabetes as a specific health concern due to its worldwide rise and its link with many other health problems. This conference represents an opportunity for you to compare notes with professional colleagues about your experiences in this field. We hope that this cross-fertilization will both contribute to your own professional development and improve your capacity to provide better treatment for diabetics across the island. As physicians and nurses treating diabetes on a daily basis, you know this is a disease that transcends ethnic, religious and national origin boundaries. You are also well placed to take advantage of the new information you will receive today.
In the United States, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is at the forefront of promoting research and exchange of information for health professionals throughout America. We are pleased that an ADA representative was able to join us today.
The embassy supports improved diabetes treatment programs in two concrete ways. First, last summer BSP sent a group of twelve Greek and Turkish Cypriot doctors and nurses to the 63rd annual Scientific Sessions of the ADA in New Orleans. As representatives from across Cyprus, these twelve joined health care professionals from all over the world for a week of broad-ranging programs based on the latest diagnostic, treatment, and research methods.
Second, upon their return to Cyprus this summer, a core group of three physicians began meeting with both Embassy and Amideast staff to identify the most pressing concerns for both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Not surprisingly, the topics were common for both communities, and this weekend’s conference is the result.
We are very pleased that Dr. Nathaniel Clark, the National Vice President of Clinical Affairs of the ADA, agreed to present the keynote address. To round out the program, we also invited six other experts in this field to share their knowledge with you. Colleen Lagasse will introduce them in a few minutes.
Let me widen the lens for just a moment and put this program into a broader context. Why, some of you might ask, does the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia pay attention to issues like diabetes in Cyprus? Why are American taxpayers investing in better health for all – Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots alike – who live on this small island?
For many years, the United States has worked hard to promote and invest in a lasting settlement to the Cyprus issue. As we cross the threshold of a new century, when ethnic conflict in Europe is being resolved, a settlement on Cyprus is long overdue. What a powerful signal for tolerance and reconciliation in Europe -- indeed the greater Middle East and across the world -- if Greek and Turkish Cypriots this year resolved their differences. Two communities with distinct identities and different religions but sharing a small island together! What a gift for the next generation -- the children -- of Cyprus! A settlement will benefit Cypriots from one end of the island to another, economically, politically and culturally. If the two sides take advantage of this opportunity then Cyprus’s full potential can and will be unleashed.
The maturity demonstrated by hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the buffer zone, who resumed contact this past year after decades of separation, demonstrates the people are ready to live and work together in peace in modern day Europe. It is thus a time for bold political leadership to heed this call, and work to ensure a united Cyprus joins the European Union later this spring.
That may sound ambitious, but the United States believes a solution is possible in the months leading up to Cyprus’s May accession. The moment, however, must be seized by political leaders, both on and off the island, or it will pass.
We support a peaceful, secure, sustainable and prosperous future for all of this island’s inhabitants in the growing family of Europe. President Bush, Secretary Powell and other senior American officials continually put their shoulder to this diplomatic task.
But it doesn’t end there. The American people – who have long embraced and championed the right of individuals to live in peace with dignity, equality and tolerance – have shown their commitment to a fair and sustainable settlement. That is what is behind American investment in the wellbeing of Cypriots and our many other bicommunal programs on the island.
Each year we fund dozens of programs in areas as wide-ranging as improving health care, helping the handicap, teaching English, bringing the youth together, promoting animal husbandry and restoring historic buildings. All are designed not only to make Cyprus a better place in which to live, but also to help the two communities work together to address challenges they face in common. The United States has also made clear that we will participate in and contribute to a donors conference which will be organized to facilitate implementation of a comprehensive settlement.
I would like to thank Dr. Hasan Sav, Dr. Georgios Olympios, and Dr. Christos Panayiotou, who have coordinated with Amideast to make this conference possible. Without their great work, we would not be here.
Thank you also to Colleen Lagasse, director of the embassy’s Bicommunal Support Program, who had the vision to see the importance of this endeavor.
I hope that you will find this conference to be another step in the continuing, fruitful dialogue that facilitates regular exchange of information on diabetes from one corner of the island to the other. By pursuing your professional interests together, by advancing the health of people across this island, you are also helping to cement the foundations of a better future for all. Thank you for your contribution.
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