At an official ceremony held at CyI premises on Monday, July 24, 2017, The Cyprus Institute and the Department of Environment, the Water Development Department, and the Geological Survey Department from the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, signed Memoranda of Understanding. These three new agreements are in addition to the two existing memorandums between The Cyprus Institute and two other Departments of the Ministry, namely the Department of Meteorology and the Agricultural Research Institute.

In his address, the President of The Cyprus Institute, Professor Costas N. Papanicolas, said that although today's ceremony marks the official collaboration between our Institutions, it is important to note that our collaboration goes back a long time, and is one of the first, if not the first, collaborations we had with any governmental institutions. Prof. Papanicolas noted that "The history of our cooperation so far, but above all the recent intense activity, leaves no doubt that the memoranda of understanding between The Cyprus Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, represent the formalization of our extensive cooperation, while at the same time shaping the framework for further deepening of this relationship'.

In a brief greeting, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Ms. Olympia Stylianou highlighted the very fruitful and long-lasting cooperation between the ministry and The Cyprus Institute, and commented on the importance of strengthening this scientific cooperation, which "provides scientific solutions to important socio-economic issues facing Cyprus, such as climate change ". Ms. Stylianou stressed that it is particularly important for research institutions, such as The Cyprus Institute, to produce original and internationally recognized research, that helps our country and at the same time puts Cyprus on the research map, a feat considered extremely difficult only a few years ago.

Finally, the directors of the three departments, Mr. Andreas Manolis of the Water Development Department, Mr. Kostas Hatzipanagiotou of the Department of the Environment, and Dr. Costas Konstantinou of the Geological Survey Department, expressed their particular satisfaction with the signing of the memoranda that will further develop the already close cooperation between their departments and The Cyprus Institute.