Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-08
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 08/03/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Greece's position on FYROM name issue unchanged
- Albanian President due Monday
- Greece, Romania, Bulgaria police accord
- Insurance Joint-Surety Fund president killed
- Bulgarian car-theft gang member arrested at border
- Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos, Pserimos
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Greece's position on FYROM name issue unchanged
Greece's position on the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
remains the same, said government spokesman Dimitris Reppas in Komotini on
Saturday, calling on the Balkan nation to overcome its unproductive stance
on the issue.
Mr. Reppas said that Greece was pursuing a policy of friendship and
cooperation with all countries, governed by rules such as respect for
borders and sovereignty, for the dignity and the particular elements of
each country's identity.
The goverment spokesman said that Greece desires the existence of FYROM
with its present borders, stressing that it will be to the benefit of both
countries to further develop economic and trade relations as well as
cultural exchanges.
Referring to ongoing negotiations between Greece and FYROM over the name
issue, underway in New York under the aegis of the United Nations, Mr.
Reppas said: "I hope that the quest for an agreement over the name, a
process which so far has proven to be fruitless, concludes. For this to
happen there must be contribution from the other side by overcoming its
persistence, its absolute and immovable stance, a position that is not
productive".
"In 1995 we proceeded to the signing of a temporary treaty, the so-called
'interim agreement', that defines the way that relations between the two
countries should evolve. We are moving within the framework of the spirit
and the wording of this agreement."
Mr. Reppas further said that "our position on this issue under adjudication
remains the same, it has not changed. What I must clearly state in today's
discussion is the following: All neigbouring countries that are being
tested in their effort to cross over to this new world, as they go through
the motions and face strong unrest undermined by dangers of instability and
political flux, are looking over to Greece to a great degree, as a country
that can become their bridge to the modern world".
Albanian President due Monday
Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani arrives in Athens on Monday for a three-
day official visit, following an invitation from his Greek counterpart
Costis Stephanopoulos.
His talks with both the president and with Prime Minister Costas Simitis
will centre on the unrest in Albania's neighbouring Yugoslav province of
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians comprise 90 percent of the population.
Another issue on the agenda will be the rights of Albania's ethnic Greek
minority, which the new government of Fatos Nano has promised to secure.
In summit meetings last year, "joint solutions" were found to a number of
issues concerning the large number of Albanian immigrants in Greece and the
education of Albania's ethnic Greeks.
Mr. Mejdani is to meet with Mr. Stephanopoulos shortly after his arrival.
Later in the day he will have meetings with the Prime Minister and the
leaders of Greece's opposition parties. In the evening he will be guest at
a dinner hosted by Mr. Stephanopoulos.
Greece, Romania, Bulgaria police accord
Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are to set up a joint experts' committee to
formulate a protocol on practical ways to achieve cooperation both within
their police forces and at the legislative level, according to a decision
taken at a tripartite ministerial meeting in Thessaloniki on Saturday.
Public Order Minster George Romeos and his Bulgarian and Romanian
counterparts agreed to the move during their three days of talks in the
northern city.
According to Mr. Romeos, the protocol will aim at harmonising legislation
not only among the three states but with Europe.
Both the Romanian and Bulgarian ministers emphasised the progress made over
the past year in fighting organised crime and illegal immigration.
The Bulgarian minister, Bogomil Bonev, said his country's legislation had
alreday been amended in order to facilitate the return of stolen luxury
cars from Bulgaria to their owners in Greece.
The Romanian and Bulgarian ministers ended their stay in Greece with a
visit to the Mt. Athos all-male monastic community yesterday.
Insurance Joint-Surety Fund president killed
Police today attributed the early-morning killing of the insurance
companies' Joint-Surety Fund president, Nikos Sotiropoulos, to hired
killers.
Sotiropoulos, 67, was killed by two gunmen at 2:15 a.m. as he left his car
to enter his holiday home in the Athens seaside resort town of Saronida,
near Cape Sounion.
Sotiropoulos, who was shot three times in the head, died almost instantaneously
according to a preliminary coroner's report.
Athens security police believe Sotiropoulos' killing was an act of
vengeance, and that the owners of one or more insurance companies whose
licences were recently revoked had hired the gunmen, although they were
also investigating other possibilities, a police spokesman told the
ANA.
Bulgarian car-theft gang member arrested at border
A 35-year-old Bulgarian has been arrested at the Promachon border post in
Serres, northern Greece, as he was attempting to smuggle into Bulgaria a
Volvo automobile stolen in Italy, police said today.
Police said Borian Balev was arrested today as he was attempting to drive
the Volvo, with licence plate EO356-H -- stolen earlier this month in Milan
and belonging to Italian national Ivo Raoni -- across the Greek-Bulgarian
border.
Since early 1996 to the present, "the Bulgarian mafia has stolen approximately
120 luxury cars in Greece and Italy, most of which were then smuggled into
Bulgaria," a police spokesman told the ANA.
The spokesman said the stolen cars were then altered at used car lots in
Bulgaria before being shipped off to countries in Asia, Africa and the
former Soviet Union for sale at very low prices.
Many of those cars were ensuingly dismantled and sold as spare parts to
foreign markets, the spokesman added.
Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos, Pserimos
Police today arrested a group of 20 Iraqi illegal immigrants, all of
Kurdish origin, at the Mourtia beach on the island of Samos in the eastern
Aegean.
The 11 men, five women and four children told police they had been left off
at dawn by a Turkish boat-runner.
They also said that there were many more Iraqi Kurds gathered on Turkey's
Asia Minor coast waiting to be ferried to Greek islands in the Aegean, a
police spokesman told the ANA.
Another thirty-eight illegal immigrants, most of them Kurds, were arrested
on a beach on the island of Pserimos on Friday. They were taken to Kalymnos
police station, where they said they had been ferried across to the island
from the Turkish coast in a wooden boat for a fee of 1,000 dollars
each.
WEATHER
Light cloud is forecast for most of the country on Monday, with rain
expected in western Greece. Light westerly winds will pick up during the
day reaching strong to very strong in the open sea. Athens will be
increasingly cloudy with a chance of showers late at night and temperatures
ranging from 10 to 18 degrees centigrade. Cloudy over Thessaloniki turning
into showers in the afternoon, with temperatures 7-15C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 287.253
Pound sterling 470.089 Cyprus pd 534.807
French franc 46.779 Swiss franc 192.746
German mark 156.815 Italian lira (100) 15.960
Yen (100) 225.571 Canadian dlr. 202.408
Australian dlr. 191.783 Irish Punt 390.332
Belgian franc 7.606 Finnish mark 51.681
Dutch guilder 139.148 Danish kr. 41.154
Swedish kr. 35.637 Norwegian kr. 37.803
Austrian sch. 22.298 Spanish peseta 1.851
Port. Escudo 1.534
(L.G.)
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