Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-19

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 19/03/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece, Bulgaria call for Balkan summit on multinational force
• Papandreou chairs meeting of Agenda 2000
• Sweden's European Affairs Minister visiting
• Farmer shot dead near border with Albania
• Stock exchange at all-time high
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece and Bulgaria today called for a meeting at the earliest of the defence undersecretaries and deputy chiefs of staff of all the Balkan countries to resolve the issue concerning the formation of a multi-national force on the basis of transparent procedures.

The task of the multi-national force will be to keep the peace in the region, under the aegis of international organisations, and other humanitarian missions.

Greece, Turkey and Romania have submitted proposals concerning the headquarters of the force following discussion of the issue at a recent meeting of defence ministers in Sofia.

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos and his Bulgarian counterpart Georgy Ananiev agreed on the need for the meeting during talks in Athens today.

Ananiev arrived in Greece on Wednesday for a three-day visit at the invitation of Tsohatzopoulos.

A Greek proposal that the meeting of Balkan defence undersecretaries be held in Tirana will be examined by Tsohatzopoulos and his Albanian counterpart Sabit Brokaj at a working lunch next week in Ioannina.

As an alternative venue for the meeting, Sofia has been proposed.

Meanwhile, Tsohatzopoulos said after his talks that Greece and Bulgaria were active taking steps to confront any problems in the region through their participation in the multi-national force in Bosnia "which confirms the sense of responsibility with which our two countries are cooperating in order to resolve problems of security and stability in the region".

Today's talks focused on the general situation and problems in the Balkans, including the hotbeds of tension in Kosovo and Bosnia, while possibilities of undertaking initiatives for the settlement of these problems were also discussed.

On a bilateral level, the two defence ministers signed an agreement providing for cooperation between the armaments directorates of the two Greek and Bulgarian ministries.

Within this framework, the possibility will be examined of exploiting mutual possibilities for the modernisation of BMP-1 tanks used by both countries.

The ministers said Greece and Bulgaria were in favour of the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia staying on after the end of its mandate.

On the crisis in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, the two countries expressed their concern and stressed they were in favour of a peaceful settlement, so as to ensure stability in the region.

Ananiev thanked Greece for its support for Sofia's efforts to join NATO.

Papandreou chairs meeting of Agenda 2000

Alternate foreign minister George Papandreou today chaired a meeting on Agenda 2000, the European Commission's plan for the future development and enlargement of the European Union.

The purpose of the meeting was to better prepare Greece and coordinate ministries to better serve the national interests during the negotiations on EU enlargement.

The meeting was attended by foreign undersecretary Yannos Kranidiotis, who spoke on the main elements of the strategy on Cyprus' EU membership, as well as foreign and national economy undersecretaries Stelios Perrakis and Elias Plaskovitis, and development and agriculture ministry officials.

Papandreou stressed the need for enlargement, pointing out that Cyprus was the first candidate for membership in the EU. He also outlined the difficulties that would be entailed in enlargement as regarded the financial aspect and institutional adaptation.

He said priority should be placed on the democratisation course of the candidate countries, adding that Bulgaria and Romania should not be shut out of the enlargement process.

Sweden's European Affairs Minister visiting

Sweden's European Affairs Minister Gunnar Lund had a a meeting today with Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou to discuss the expansion of the European Union and Europe's "Agenda 2000".

Lund had talks in Nicosia yesterday with the Cypriot leadership.

The two ministers also discussed the Cyprus issue, although Lund, replying to questions, said the issue of Cyprus' purchase of Russian S-300 missiles had not been raised. He said, however, that he personally did not think the missiles should be installed on the island.

Sweden supports a solution for the Cyprus issue within the framework of the UN resolutions and it has frequently spoken in favour of a withdrawal of all foreign forces from the island republic. Sweden was also one of the first countries to support Cyprus' accession to the EU.

Meanwhile, Papandreou said after the meeting that it had been decided to set up a group consisting of both Greek and Swedish representatives to cooperate with Baltic and Balkan countries in their attempts to work towards becoming members of the EU.

Papandreou said he would be going to Paris and Bonn next week to represent Greece at the Contact Group on Kosovo, an issue which he also discussed with Lund.

Farmer shot dead near border with Albania

A 29-year-old farmer was shot dead last night just 500 metres inside the Greek-Albanian border in Kastoria, after a military patrol fired a warning shot after he disobeyed an order to stop.

According to local police, Ioannis Kehaidis, 29, was driving his tractor towards the border when soldiers from a military guard post called on him to stop. Kehaidis, however, did not stop and the soldiers fired a warning shot.

When the soldiers arrived at the scene, they found the tractor overturned with a bullet-hole and traces of blood on the back window of the driver's cabin.

Kehaidis' body was found an hour later about 200 meters away.

Nestori police are investigating the killing.

Stock exchange at all-time high

Greek equities soared to a new all-time high on the Athens Stock Exchange signalling the transition of the market from an emerging to a developed one.

Traders said that foreign institutional investors, showing confidence in the Greek economy, continued pouring money in the market driving the daily volume to record levels.

The general index ended 6.09 percent higher to 1,861.73 points, surpassing its previous record of 1,794.14 points in October 8, 1997.

Trading was extremely heavy with turnover at 96.1 billion drachmas.

Analysts said that demand for shares was so intense that could justify predictions of the market breaking to 2,000 barrier in the mid-term.

Sector indices all scored sharp gains. Banks rose 7.71 percent, Insurance was 3.11 percent higher, Investment soared 5.78 percent, Leasing ended 5.60 percent higher, Industrials shot up 6.79 percent, Constructions rose 3.77 percent, Miscellaneous was 3.03 percent up and Holding increased 5.62 percent.

The parallel market index for small cap companies ended 3.69 percent higher, while the FTSE/ASE index soared 6.26 percent to 1,084.15.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 179 to 51 with another 24 issues unchanged.

Naoussa Mills, ETEBA, Klonatex, Alpha Credit Bank, Ionian Bank, National Bank, Commercial Bank and Intracom scored the biggest percentage gains at the day's 8.0 percent upper volatility limit.

Mochlos, Korasidis, Dane, Balkan Export and Demetriadis suffered the heaviest losses.

National Bank of Greece ended at 30,358 drachmas, Ergobank at 19,950, Alpha Credit Bank at 22,269, Delta Dairy at 3,490, Titan Cement at 19,450, Intracom at 17,496 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 8, 350.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(Y.B.)

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