Universal success, says Rolandis

NICOS Rolandis, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, yesterday heralded the Miss Universe pageant as a universal success.

Speaking to The Sunday Mail, he said “the pageant’s objectives were fully achieved and I thought it was a great performance”.

His praise was matched by Miss Universe officials and a CBS spokesman. A representative from the joint-owned pageant proclaimed yesterday morning’s Cyprus show as “the best ever in Miss Universe’s 49-year history”. In a unique marriage of mythology and the present, he said that Miss Universe 2000 showed that “Hollywood was moving outside the United States”.

Saturday morning’s final was aired live to a billion people across the world. Another three billion are expected to watch recordings of the event across Europe and Aisa this weekend.

Estimates claim that a total of 13,000 people attended the nine Miss Universe pageant events, held all over the island, the last of which was the Coronation Ball, held last night at the Cyprus Hilton, Nicosia. “In Cyprus this is a record,” said Rolandis.

It is understood that the CTO website totalled more than 10,000 hits from surfers all over the world between 6am local time and mid-afternoon.

Asked to comment on the protests against the pageant, Rolandis said he did not want to add anything further. During the dress rehearsal on Friday night, a group of about 30 leftist socialist campaigners gathered outside the Eleftheria stadium complaining that the£4.5 million which the Cyprus Tourism Organisation spent on the event should have been channelled into education.

Rolandis extended his congratulations and best wishes to Miss Universe 2000, Lara Dutta. He also thanked CBS and the Miss Universe organisation for “returning Cyprus to a land of beauty”.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.