Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-08-15

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 15/08/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Tsohatzopoulos condemns ethnic cleansing of Serbs
• High number of road deaths despite measures
• Dam agreement signed
• Thermaikos Gulf mussels given the 'all clear'
• Parthenon Marbles appeal to tourists
• Albanian arrests... Albanian
• Equity prices close historic week at record highs
• Prices unchanged in secondary bond market trading
• Rising oil prices effect on inflation rate feared
• ICAP report cites 208% increase in 1998 bank profits
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos on Sunday demanded an end to the "ethnic cleansing" being perpetrated against the Serbs who have remained in the volatile Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

At the same time, Tsohatzopoulos referred to the refugees who were forced to leave their homes in the wake of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus as "victims of ethnic cleansing" and called on international organisations to intervene "decisively" so that they might return to the now Turkish- occupied northern part of the island republic.

He was speaking at the Panaghia Soumela Monastery in Imathia prefecture, the venue for an annual pilgrimage in celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin.

Located in the foothills of Mt. Vermion, the monastery is named after the original monastery which was renowned as a historical and cultural centre of Black Sea Greeks, near the once vibrant port of Trapezounta (Trabzon) on the Black sea coast.

Most of the pilgrims are descendants of ethnic Greek refugees from the Black Sea region of Pontos.

Tsohatzopoulos said the Greeks of the Black Sea region were "the first in our history" to suffer the consequences of ethnic cleansing (at the hands of the Turks) and for this reason "Greece is obliged and has an inalienable right to support all the struggles against all policies of ethnic cleansing".

Referring to the Kosovo problem, Tsohatzopoulos said Greece had firmly stated its opposition to the ethnic cleansing carried out against Albanians "and we now demand an end to the policy of ethnic cleansing being perpetrated by the Albanians against the Serbs".

In the same spirit, he continued, Greece demands that the Greek refugees in Cyprus be allowed to return to their homes.

Tsohatzopoulos said the Greek Cypriot refugees had been forced from their homes 25 years ago "in the name of a totally unacceptable policy of ethnic cleansing".

"The international community and international organisations have the obligation to intervene decisively to redress this development through dialogue on the basis of the resolutions of international organisations and in accordance with the principles of law," he said.

High number of road deaths despite measures

Despite the additional measures taken by the traffic police to facilitate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of city dwellers heading for the provinces to celebrate the Dormition of the Virgin on Sunday, 21 people have so far been killed in road accidents.

The police said that on Friday and Saturday alone, 21 people were killed and 246 injured in 170 road accidents around the country.

Dam agreement signed

The Public Power Corporation (DEH) and a consortium of engineering companies on Saturday signed a contract for the construction of a dam in the area of Gratini, Rodopi, northern Greece.

The estimated cost of the project is 7 billion drachmas. When completed, the dam will create a sufficient volume of water for a power station which will also use natural gas and is currently under construction on the Rodopi Industrial Park.

The three companies which have undertaken construction of the dam are "Michaniki S.A.", "AGEK S.A." and "TERNA S.A."

The Gratini dam and another being constructed at Arato, Rodopi will produce 25 million cubic metres of water for the operation of the power generating station.

The power plant is being built on a 320,000 square metre area of land purchased by DEH from the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank (ETBA) for 590 million drachmas.

The construction of the plant will cost approximately 80 billion drachmas and it will be ready for operation in about two-and-a-half years from now.

It will have an initial output of 300 megawatt which will gradually be increased to 470 megawatt.

Water exiting the DEH plant will be used to irrigate 10 million square metres of arable land on the plain of Rodopi.

Thermaikos Gulf mussels given the 'all clear'

The mussels cultivated in the Thermaikos Gulf, northern Greece got a further clean bill of health on Friday from a respected laboratory and local authorities said a ban on the collection and sale of the tasty molluscs would soon be lifted.

The ban was imposed by order of the Prefect of Thessaloniki on July 15 after French authorities claimed to have detected DSP dioxin in the mussels.

On Friday, prefectural authorities received the findings of tests carried out at a Thessaloniki University laboratory, which confirmed the results obtained on August 6 from an Italian state laboratory in Venice showing the mussels to be free of dioxins.

What turned out to be a false alarm began in July when French authorities impounded quantities of mussels originating from the Thermaikos Gulf, saying biotoxins had been detected.

Local producers reacted angrily, saying the move was motivated by national interests, given the fierce competition in the French market.

Samples sent initially from Thessaloniki to the only European Union microbiology laboratory certified for testing mussels in Vigo, Spain, supposedly confirmed the French view.

When the authorities in Thessaloniki attempted to send a second sample to Vigo for testing, they were informed that the laboratory would remain closed until August 17.

Samples were then sent to Venice, Cologne and Thessaloniki University.

The president of a local fishing cooperative in the Thermaikos Gulf, George Liolios, told the ANA on Friday that the latest results vindicated the mussel producers.

Stressing that a "war of interests" was behind the health scare, Liolios said the Greek Association of Shellfish and Mussel Producers was considering taking legal action against the Vigo laboratory.

Parthenon Marbles appeal to tourists

Thousands of visitors to the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis of Athens are being handed a pamphlet with an appeal for the return of the Parthenon Marbles now housed in London's British Museum.

According to the Culture Ministry 300,000 leaflets have been printed of which 80,000 are in English, 20,000 in Greek, and the rest in German, Italian and Spanish.

The pamphlets are being distributed starting today and continue through the tourist period until October 17.

The Marbles which include 17 figures and fragments of a 160-metre long frieze were carted away in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, the then British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, while Greece was under Ottoman rule. He sold the Marbles to the British Museum in 1816.

The crusade, said Yannis Tsakopiakos, chairman of the Federation of Culture Ministry Employees' Unions, aims at informing the visitors on the "amputation of the Parthenon and the theft of its sculptures", as well on Greece's efforts for the Marbles' return.

He said the Federation was also sending an open letter to British prime minister Tony Blair "calling for his positive response".

"Our aspiration was and is to actively participate in the effort, at the same time creating a 'spark' for substantive interventions," he said.

Greece has for several years been waging a campaign for the return of the Marbles, which it says it will house in the new Acropolis Museum due for completion by 2004, when Athens will stage the Olympic Games.

Last year, Greece lodged an official protest with the British government over the damage caused to the Marbles and demanded their inspection by an international experts' committee.

The British Museum acknowledged that damage had been caused as the Marbles were being cleaned in 1937, but has consistently refused to return them.

Albanian arrests... Albanian

An Albanian bag-snatcher was caught and handed over to the police in Thessaloniki by a fellow Albanian who heard the cries of the victim and ran to her assistance.

The incident took place at around midnight Thursday when Michalis Marantidis, 22, grabbed the bag of Elisabet Sarikyriakidou, 63 and ran off.

The woman called for help and Astrit Ago, 26, a labourer, who was passing at the time, chased and caught Marantidis and handed him over to the police who arrived a few minutes later.

Equity prices close historic week at record highs

Equity prices ended a historic week at new record levels on Friday pushed by strong buying interest in blue chip stocks.

The general index ended 102.71 points, or 2.19 percent up at 4,799.62 for its 38th record close this year. The index has recorded a 487.37 points gain in the last nine sessions.

Turnover was 219.823 billion drachmas reflecting high liquidity in the market with 31,119,993 shares changing hands.

The Insurance and Holding sectors outperformed the market ending 7.44 and 7.5 percent higher respectively. Other sector indices ended as follows: Banks (+1.12 pct), Investment (+1.2 pct), Leasing (+0.60 pct), Construction (+3.80 pct), Industrials (+3.40 pct) and Miscellaneous (+3.29 pct).

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks rose 3.53 percent while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.53 percent up at 2,675.42 points.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 224 to 65 with another five issues unchanged.

A total of 36 shares ended at the day's 8.0 percent limit up, while another two ended at the day's limit down.

Hellenic Petroleum, Hellenic Telecoms and Naoussa Textiles were the most heavily traded stocks, while Commercial Bank, Eurobank and Alpha Credit Bank led the day's turnover.

National Bank of Greece ended at 22,310 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 21, 850, Commercial Bank at 34,000, Ergobank at 31,500, Titan Cement at 33,100, Hellenic Petroleum at 3,315, Intracom at 22,780, Minoan Lines at 5,695, Panafon at 8,200 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,720.

Prices unchanged in secondary bond market trading

Despite sellers dominating yesterday's trading in the secondary bond market, prices remained unchanged.

Fifteen year bonds attracted 10 billion of the 21 billion-drachma sales volume, out of 27 billion drachmas worth of total trading.

The benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 6.73-6.74 per cent, with a spread of 183-184 basis points above the respective German bund.

The market appeared to be waiting for the announcement of the latest US monthly inflation figures on Aug. 17, which will indicate the next possible moves of the Federal Reserve on the 24th of the month.

In a three-month deposit auction, the Bank of Greece absorbed additional liquidity of 200 billion drachmas at an average rate of 10.07 per cent, up from 9.91 per cent from the previous auction on July 8. At the central bank's daily fix, there was a small outflow of 75-80 million euros, and the drachma closed at 326.95 from 326.66 in the previous session. The dollar rose to 307.57 from 305.46 a day earlier.

Rising oil prices effect on inflation rate feared

The government is reportedly concerned over the latest increase in international oil prices, expected to push up August inflation figures.

Gasoline prices were 4.5 drachmas per litre up at the pump yesterday, diesel cost two drachmas more per litre, while heating oil rose up 2.7 drachmas per litre.

ICAP report cites 208% increase in 1998 bank profits

The ICAP research institute yesterday presented a report on Greece's banking sector, noting the greater than ever consolidation and outstanding profits of 208 per cent on a year-to-year basis for 1998.

Consolidation regarded several buy-outs, mergers and privatisations of several banks throughout the year, actions which continued into 1999.

The report stated that net profits of 21 banks included in the report rose to 349 billion drachmas, compared to 113 billion drachmas in 1997.

The same report stated that deposits rose by 16.5 per cent, loans by 18.1 per cent, assets rose by 8.6 per cent and equity by 33.5 per cent, while the total number of employees rose by 1 per cent.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Monday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          303.691
Pound sterling       489.711
Japanese yen (100)   264.308
French franc          49.407
German mark          165.703
Italian lira (100)    16.738
Irish Punt           411.504
Belgian franc          8.034
Finnish mark          54.507
Dutch guilder        147.064
Danish kr.            43.577
Austrian sch.         23.552
Spanish peseta         1.948
Swedish kr.           36.821
Norwegian kr.         39.234
Swiss franc          202.170
Port. Escudo           1.617
Can. dollar          204.610
Aus. dollar          197.651
Cyprus pound         560.718
Euro                 324.086

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