A feeling of community
Twelve years ago, Roger Pizot, the recently departed mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, and Osamu Motojima, then Director-General of the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ Organization, established a tradition. A few weeks before the end of every year, the municipality of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, where ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ is administratively located, would present the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ Organization with a large Christmas tree whose decorations would be lit in the presence of the assembled staff ... and to the sound of the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ band.
The ceremony this year took place on 4 December in the presence of Deputy-Mayor Elise Placé and Councilor Sandrine Meyer (representing Mayor Romain Buchaut who succeeded Roger Pizot in 2020). On the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ side, Sriram Kattalai Ramachandran, Head of the Office of the Director-General, and Ioan Cruceana, Chief Institutional Host State Relations, represented Director-General Pietro Barabaschi.
"Saint-Paul-lez-Durance is [...] our home away from home," said Sriram. For the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ staff and collaborators, the lighting of the tree carries a double significance: "It makes us feel part of a community, and it symbolizes our constant efforts towards lighting up the Earth with a new star."