New think-tank set to start operations next year

By Andrea Petranyi

THE NEW year is to see the creation of Cyprus’ first think-tank, under the presidency of academic Ioannis Koutsakos, one of its prospective members confirmed yesterday.

Economist Marios Clerides told the Cyprus Mail the body would be autonomous and non-profit based, though it would be affiliated to governing party Disy. It would be modelled on similar think-tanks operated by conservative parties in Greece and the UK.

The think-tank will be established in the first months of 1999, and aims to devote its attention to political, financial and social issues concerning Cyprus.

Along with Koutsakos and Clerides, former ministers Chrysostomos Sophianos and Stathis Papadakis will also be involved in the new body, tentatively called the Eurodemocratic Institute.

The think-tank will study the opinions of society on various matters, create an electoral archive and investigate what voters consider before making the final decision at the ballot box. Public debates, seminars on socio-political issues, international conferences and cultural events will also be sponsored by the Institute.

Clerides said his personal goal in relation to the new institution would be to have “more economics and less politics” in the economic matters of the island.

The first conference to be organised by the Institute will be held in late January/early February and will address the subject of privatisation.

Delegates from the USA, Europe, New Zealand, Greece and Cyprus will give their opinions on topics such as “new technology and privatisation” and “political cost versus financial gain with privatisation”.

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.