Jill Biden praises H4C during buffer-zone tour

DR JILL Biden, who accompanied her husband, US Vice President Joe Biden had a busy schedule of her own.

The first stop was Limassol mediaeval castle at around 10.30am with First Lady Andri Anastasiades, where they were shown around by guides from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation.

The two ladies greeted bystanders who welcomed them with applause and at the end of the tour Dr Biden thanked the guides by giving them commemorative gifts.

According to UNFICYP spokesperson Michel Bonnardeaux, at around noon Mrs Biden accompanied, by UN Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim, took a tour of the ‘Silver Bunker’, which is the eastern part of Nicosia’s Green Line.  She visited ‘Maple House’ as it is called by UNFICYP personnel, a commercial gallery which was deserted in 1974 and where later Canadian troops were based.

She walked down the divided Ermou Street and passed close to but not by the Ledra Street crossing, instead preferring to enter the buffer zone through the Ledra Palace area where, with Buttenheim they visited the Home for Cooperation (H4C), which in a brief statement, Dr Biden described as “a shining example of what can be achieved despite the obstacles”.

Mrs Biden and Buttenheim also made a quick stop at the Fulbright Commission next to the Ledra Palace Hotel. “It was a meet and greet visit” Sondra Sainsbury, Education USA Advisor and Alumni Coordinator said.

There Dr Biden met with the Fulbright Commission’s staff, American Fulbright scholars and students, students who received the Benjamin Franklin scholarship and students participants in the Summer Institute, a youth programme funded by the US Government.

 

 

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.