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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-06-18
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 18/06/1999 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Kranidiotis calls for long-term strategy for Balkans
- Stephanopoulos returns from 'highly successful' visit to Romania
- Greece irked over US statements on terrorism
- Cook terms Greece's role in the Balkans 'valuable'
- Scottish officer takes 'the low road' to Pristina
- Equity prices end week with moderate gains
- Seven-year bond issue
- Drys to visit UK
- Cosmote signs supply deal with Intracom
- Gov't promotes Greek-produced meat as safe alternative
- Mismanagement, lack of employees blamed for OA's condition
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
MAIN HEADLINES
- Kranidiotis calls for long-term strategy for Balkans
Alternate foreign minister Yannos Kranidiotis today urged a long-term
strategy that would tackle the practical problems in the Balkans, noting
that the war in Yugoslavia may have ended, but the crisis in the wider
region of the western Balkans had not. He also called for the Balkan
countries' membership in the European Union. In an exclusive interview with
ANA, Kranidiotis said the European Parliament elections had ended, and so
had the war, but the crisis in the wider region of the western Balkans had
not. "The war was simply a phenomenon of this ongoing crisis. The true
causes of the crisis must be sought chiefly in (the region's) economic
underdevelopment and lack of institutions and democratic operation, and
also in the lack of prospects for the future of the countries of the
Balkans," he said. "For this reason," he added, "Greece believed -- even
before the war and throughout the war -- and continues to believe today
that the crisis cannot be tackled through patchwork or corrective moves,
but rather a long-term strategy is necessary which will give answers
to the practical problems."
- Stephanopoulos returns from 'highly successful' visit to Romania
President Kostis Stephanpoulos returned to Greece on Friday after a three-
day official visit to Romania which he described as highly successful. "The
visit was highly successful. The Romanians have great affection for us and
desire further economic cooperation," Stephanopoulos said, noting that
Greece's presence in the Balkan country was already quite considerable.
During his visit to Romania, accompanied by Alternate Foreign Minister
Yiannos Kranidiotis, Stephanopoulos met with his counterpart Emil
Constantinescu, the leader of the main opposition Social Democracy Party
Ion Iliescu, Patriarch Theoktistos and representatives of the Greek
community. Kranidiotis signed a health cooperation agreement and a group
of Greek businessmen accompanying the president attended a
Greek-Romanian business forum. In addition, a National Economy Ministry
delegation held meetings with Romanian government officials on the
sidelines of the president's visit, during which Greece agreed to extend
credits to Romania totalling 20 million US dollars. Praising Constantinescu's
qualities as a leader and friend of Greece, Stephanopoulos said "whatever
one might have expected from this visit was achieved".
- Greece irked over US statements on terrorism
The government said on Friday that it would not accept insinuations or the
disputing of Greece's efforts to combat terrorism. Government spokesman
Dimitris Reppas made the statement when asked to comment on remarks
yesterday by US State Department spokesman James Foley. Asked to comment on
statements by Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who claimed that the US
had information about "the training of Kurd terrorists in Greece", Foley
replied that the US "has reports in mind, past reports on the training of
the PKK in Greece. We handle all reports on terrorist activities with
seriousness and the relevant American services evaluate them". Reppas said
similar accusations which had been made against Greece had proved to be
totally false and had been intentionally directed against the country by
"certain circles". Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis, when
asked to comment on the issue, indicated that the Greek government
was irked by Foley's statements. Kranidiotis said Greece had made
great efforts to combat terrorism and had the political will to continue
in this direction. Consequently, he said, Greece does not accept
insinuations, when they do not reflect reality, nor recommendations, at a
time when efforts are being made to fight terrorism. Kranidiotis noted that
it was Greece which had proposed a multilateral agreement for the purpose
of combatting terrorism in the Balkans. The minister underlined however
that Greek-US relations were at a very good level.
- Cook terms Greece's role in the Balkans 'valuable'
Greece's special role as the only Balkan country which is a member of the
EU and NATO has been particularly valuable in reaching the peace agreement
on Kosovo and will continue to be so in the involvement of the two
organisations in promoting a stability pact in the peninsula, British
Foreign Minister Robin Cook said yesterday. "I would like to officially
express my admiration for the positive contribution of Greece and (foreign
minister) Mr. (George) Papandreou in the diplomatic efforts during the
crisis in Kosovo. I recognise Greece's special position as a member of NATO
and the European Union, and as the only EU member state in the Balkans,
which provided it with special knowledge about the area and, of course,
gave it the potential to have a significant contribution to the diplomatic
efforts," he said after two hours of talks with his Greek counterpart
here.
- Scottish officer takes 'the low road' to Pristina
A Scottish officer of the British army heading for the bombed-out Kosovo
capital of Pristina from the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki lost his
direction and ended up last night outside the Rendis central produce market
near Piraeus, where his jeep ran out of gas, police said on Friday.
Sergeant Gordon Easton, 40, set out from Thessaloniki on Thursday in a jeep
to join the NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo. But he
apparently lost his way after joining the Athens-Thessaloniki national
highway and began driving in the opposite direction, eventually running out
of gas outside the entrance to the produce market at midnight last night.
He flashed the jeep's headlights at an approaching police patrol car, and
told the officers "I'm on my way to Pristina and ran out of petrol".
After checking the sergeant's documents, the surprised police officers
notified the nearby Moschato police precinct, which in turn notiified the
British Embassy in Athens. At the request of an Embassy official, Easton
spent the night at the precinct and departed for Pristina at dawn on
Friday.
- Equity prices end week with moderate gains
Equity prices ended the week with moderate gains reversing a six-day
decline on the Athens Stock Exchange. The general index, however, was
unable to surpass the 4,000 level ending 0.35 percent higher at 3,968.04
points, off the the day's highs. Turnover was 155.292 billion drachmas with
33,406,382 shares changing hands. The Leasing and Banks sectors outperformed
the market ending 2.28 and 1.15 percent higher respectively. Other sector
indices ended as follows: Insurance (+0.11 pct), Investment (-0.23 pct),
Construction (-1.40 pct), Industrials (-0.57 pct), Miscellaneous (-0.23
pct) and Holding (-0.32 pct). The parallel market index for smaller
capitalisation stocks ended 0.47 percent higher while the FTSE/ASE 20 index
for heavy traded stocks and blue chips rose 0.72 percent to 2,360 points.
Broadly, decliners led advancers by 150 to 130 with another 17 issues
unchanged.
- Seven-year bond issue
The finance ministry will auction a seven-year bond issue, worth 120
billion drachmas, in paperless form next Tuesday, June 22. The issue will
pay a 6.0 percent annual coupon. The ministry will not pay a premium to
primary dealers.
- Drys to visit UK
Deputy Finance Minister George Drys will visit Britain June 21-24 for talks
with British government ministers focused on the country's tax system. Drys
wants to be informed on the operation of the British tax settlement system
which enables taxpayers to calculate their taxes by themselves and pay the
first installment simultaneously with the submission of tax statements. He
aims to adopt a similar system in Greece. Drys will meet with UK's Treasury
Undersecretary on tax issues Mrs Barbara Roche, with Treasury Undersecretary
Dawn Rimarolo also chairman of the EU's tax committee, with Undersecretary
for public sector's reform P. Kilfoyle and other government officials.
- Cosmote signs supply deal with Intracom
Cosmote yesterday signed a mobile telephone equipment supply contract worth
15 billion drachmas with a consortium comprising Intracom, Ericsson and
Intracom Construction. The four-year turnkey deal is for the supply of base
stations and other equipment, and also includes maintenance, Cosmote said
in a statement. Selection of the consortium was made through an international
tender.
- Gov't promotes Greek-produced meat as safe alternative
Representatives of several veterinary organisations yesterday reassured the
public that Greek meat is safe, cautioning consumers to avoid fat, where
dioxin accumulates. However, veterinarians complained that checks taking
place in the country are inadequate. On his part, Agriculture Minister
George Anomeritis said all the quantities of confiscated Belgian meat will
be destroyed. In another interview, Mr. Anomeritis said fresh milk on sale
in the Greek market is unadulterated and locally produced. He said fresh
milk is not imported, while all other products are checked as imported
goods, adding that a further 200 tonnes of fresh products (meat, mayonnaise
and poultry) have already been destroyed. Mr. Anomeritis said stringent
checks have taken place and are continuing to take place at the source of
dioxin infection, which is fodder crops for animals.
- Mismanagement, lack of employees blamed for OA's condition
Lack of management and failure to satisfy employees' wage demands are the
causes of yet more problems at debt-ridden Olympic Airways (OA), a unionist
said yesterday. An official of the stewards' union, Vassilis Yiannakopoulos,
said OA's subsidiary "Macedonian Airlines" and pesonnel shortages were the
main causes for the state-run carrier's problems. He also claimed that
Macedonian siphons off up to 16 per cent of OA 's regular flights.
WEATHER
Unsettled weather forecast for northern Greece on Saturday with possibility
of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some cloud in the
rest of the country with possibility of rain in mainland Greece towards the
evening. Winds northwesterly, light to moderate and in southern sea areas
strong. Temperature in Athens 22-33C and in Thessaloniki 20-30C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Monday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar 310.863
Pound sterling 495.663
Japanese yen (100) 260.856
French franc 48.997
German mark 164.328
Italian lira (100) 16.599
Irish Punt 408.091
Belgian franc 7.967
Luxembourg franc 7.967
Finnish mark 54.055
Dutch guilder 145.844
Danish kr. 43.233
Austrian sch. 23.357
Spanish peseta 1.931
Swedish kr. 36.744
Norwegian kr. 39.511
Swiss franc 201.450
Port. Escudo 1.603
Can. dollar 212.189
Aus. dollar 203.231
Cyprus pound 557.008
Euro 321.398
(S.S.)
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