Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-03-07

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 07/03/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece offers to help resolve Kosovo crisis
• Pangalos' stopover in Montenegro
• Greece's Global Bond Issue at $1.25 billion
• Greece, Romania, Bulgaria confer on organised crime
• Over 150,000 undocumented foreigners file for legalisation
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said in Belgrade yesterday that Greece was ready to help in re-establishing contacts between the Yugoslav government and the Kosovo province's ethnic Albanian leadership, during an official visit to Belgrade.

"We are ready to help if the possibilities are found for restoring contacts or developing initiatives which will contribute to the defusing of the tension and the consolidation of peace, which we believe is necessary for all in the Balkans," he said aft er one hour of talks with his Yugoslav counterpart Zivadin Jovanovic.

"We do not need any new adventures in our region," Mr. Pangalos said, adding:

"We condemn secessionist tendencies, we support the existence of the present national states in the Balkans and we are opposed to any further change whatsoever of existing borders and, of course, we condemn terrorism and the use of force."

Mr. Pangalos said Greece was also a country which defended human rights, "and we believe human rights and the freedom of expression must be protected everywhere".

On the basis of these principles, he added, Greece believes that a solution can be found.

The Greek minister said Athens encouraged all moderate elements on the political scene in Kosovo and was opposed to extremist tendencies, clarifying that Athens had made no mediation offer. He added that "we are simply talking and looking to see if ther e is ground for us to help the situation in the Balkans".

Mr. Pangalos, who arrived in Belgrade yesterday morning, held talks with Mr. Jovanovic on a wide range of issues, from bilateral relations to cooperation in the Balkans and southeast Europe.

He told reporters that Greece believed Yugoslavia should actively participate in international life and the various forms of regional cooperation.

"We also believe that Yugoslavia should have a place in the OSCE, the Council of Europe and, of course, the United Nations," he said.

Mr. Pangalos later had separate talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Socialist Renewal Movement (SPO) leader Vuk Draskovic. He was later scheduled to travel to Podgorica where he will meet with Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic.

Meanwhile, asked to comment on an announcement by the US State Department on Thursday concerning the revocation of limited economic concessions to Yugoslavia by the US, Mr. Pangalos referred questions to US diplomatic representatives, considering the is sue "a bilateral issue between Yugoslavia and the US."

Such limited economic concessions concern the right of Yugoslav airliners to land in the US, an increase in the staff of the Yugoslav mission at the UN in New York, permission for a Yugoslav consulate to open in the US and the country's participation in a regional economic unit.

"I am not a representative of the US government and I clearly mean not to become one. As I explained to my counterpart, due to certain other initiatives, Greece clearly intends not to represent the US in the region," he said.

On the question of the European Union's position on Kosovo, Mr. Pangalos invoked the EU's emphasis on the implementation of the cultural agreement which "will be a good start for greater confidence to be achieved between the two sides. Of course, we are encouraging all the moderate elements on the political scene in Kosovo and we are opposed to extreme trends."

Summing up his talks in Belgrade, Mr. Pangalos told Greek reporters that three prospects currently exist which might be in a position to succeed in the coming days and defuse the situation somewhat.

Mr. Pangalos said the first prospect is the implementation of an agreement which has already been more or less concluded, very few points are still undefined, for the educational system to function again in Kosovo.

He added that the second point is that Yugoslavia anticipates a status of autonomy for Vojvodina, which is being applied. In this direction a similar status for Kosovo could be pursued. He further said he had the conviction that efforts will be made to facilitate proposals to be made to the leaders, at least the moderate leaders, of the Albanian community in Kosovo for a solution similar to that applied in Vojvodina.

The third prospect, he said, is a meeting between the leaders of Albania and Yugoslavia at some level, or between the foreign ministers, if not the heads of state. It could take place either here or in Tirana or in places in between and, of course, we a re ready to offer in connection with all these solutions and prospects opening up and we are already offering our good offices.

Asked whether his Serb interlocutors expressed the desire to meet representatives of the Albanians from Kosovo, Mr. Pangalos said such a meeting is absolutely feasible on the Yugoslav side. He said they did not express this desire directly, adding that if such a meeting is possible there will be no difficulties from the Yugoslav side.

Mr. Pangalos expressed opposition to sanctions being imposed on Yugoslavia, saying that "the system of extortions and threats will not work" and that Greece will not agree to sanctions.

"Apart from the economic consequences, refugees exist and we are watching these developments with great concern and we are trying to avoid them. We are not taking a position in favour of the one or the other. We are making a policy of principles and not opportunities and we are defending our well- meant interest which is to have peace, stability and good relations in our region," he said.

Pangalos' stopover in Montenegro

After leaving Belgrade Mr. Pangalos had a meeting in Montenegro with President Djukanovic, which lasted for more than an hour.

The two sides ascertained that bilateral relations are developing satisfactorily and there is ground for their further improvement. In this context, a Greek consulate will open in Montenegro soon.

Greece's Global Bond Issue at $1.25 billion

Greece's Global Bond Issue on international markets will finally be worth a total of US$1.25 billion, due to higher demand by foreign investors, according to an announcement by the finance ministry last night.

The issue is an international bond loan which, as agreed last week, will be launched by 17 banks in US and European markets.

The initial agreement between Greece envisages that the total of the loan would amount to one billion dollars.

However, according to the ministry's announcement, it was ultimately decided that the initial amount will be increased by 250 million, since foreign investors are seeking greater participation in the issue, and indeed, with more favourable terms for Gre ece.

The announcement stresses that the interest rate for the additional $250 million will be less than the rate agreed for the initial amount of one billion dollars.

The interest rate agreed for the one billion dollars section is 1.32 percentage units higher that the interest rate for US bonds.

The finance ministry underlined that the greater demand for the state bonds and the more favourable terms being shaped in the market for the additional amount of 250 million "prove the confidence of international capital markets in Greek state issues.

Greece, Romania, Bulgaria confer on organised crime

The public order ministers of Greece, Romania and Bulgaria meet in Thessaloniki this weekend to confer on the fight against drugs and arms smuggling and organised crime, the public order ministry said yesterday.

The tripartite talks will also focus on terrorism, money laundering and illegal migration, a ministry source told the ANA.

Greece's George Romeos and his Romanian counterpart Gavril Dejeu and Bogomil Bonev of Bulgaria, both at the head of delegations, plan to "lay the foundations for stepped up cooperation and coordinated and efficient measures to combat organised crime, te rrorism, drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and illegal migration", the source said.

The talks will open at the Mediterranean Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki tomorrow morning, and will be followed by a press conference.

The Bulgarian and Romanian ministers will be taken on a tour of Greek archaeological sites later in the day and on Sunday they will be flown by helicopter to the all-male monastic community of Mt. Athos.

Over 150,000 undocumented foreigners file for legalisation

Undocumented foreigners are showing up in large numbers at Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) branches in order to register for legal residency status, according to Labour Minister Miltiadis Papaioannou.

Mr. Papaioannou was speaking during the launching of a special guide for illegal immigrants, to be circulated by tomorrow's edition of the "Kyriakatiki Elefterotypia".

So far, 151,800 illegal immigrants have registered at OAED offices, of whom 87,800 registered in Attica.

Mr. Papaioannou described the relevant presidential decrees as model in dealing with the illegal immigration problem, saying that many foreign governments were carefully monitoring Greece's experiment in this massive legalisation project.

The minister said the main criterion for leglisation of an undocumented foreigner was the "work factor", adding that was the reason why all relevant procedures fall under OAED's auspices, instead of law enforcement authorities.

Meanwhile, OAED has carried out an analysis on a sample of 10,000 registered illegal immigrants, arriving at the following conclusions: - 78.5 per cent are males and 21.5 per cent are females. At least half of the female applicants are Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Russian nationals. - 70 per cent of the applicants are aged between 18 and 37. This factor is regarded as especially important, as people in the above age groups are considered the most productive and do not require high degrees of medical care. - As far as national origin is concerned, ethnic Albanians have the lead with 36 per cent of all applicants, followed by Egyptians with 11 per cent, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis etc. - An interesting factor concerns the level of education, which appears to counter the stereotype citing uneducated illegal immigrants, as 51 per cent say they hold a secondary or technical education diploma, while 14 per cent stated that they ha ve a university-level education.

On his part, Labour Undersecretary Christos Protopapas, who also attended the launching of the special guide, said that legalisation is expected to have a beneficial impact on normalising the Greek job market.

He underlined that illegal immigrants have taken up 47,000 jobs for which no demand by Greek workers had been recorded, a fact which appear to dismiss the notion that immigration was the main reason for an increase in Greece's unemployment rate.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(Y.B.)

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