Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-02-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] Economy-Papantoniou

[02] Athens -Carnival

[03] Simitis - Robertson - Guterres

[04] Greece - Demirel - Airspace

[05] Papandoniou-Brown-meeting

[06] ASE-close

[01] Economy-Papantoniou

LONDON (L.Tsirigotakis) - Greek interest rates will drop sharply to European Union levels by January 2001 when the country is expected to join the 11-member euro zone, National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said on Monday.

Papantoniou was the keynote speaker at a conference on the Greek economy and stock market that was attended by officials from international investment houses.

[02] Athens -Carnival

The Greek Popular Art Museum will organise carnival festivities in the old Athens district of Plaka over the weekend for the fifth consecutive year.

A museum official said carnival is a period of happiness and entertainment for the Greek people, adding that the specific event gives one the opportunity of watching some of Greeks' traditional customs. More than 150 volunteers will participate in the event.

[03] Simitis - Robertson - Guterres

The government announced on Monday that NATO Secretary General George Robertson will arrive in Greece on Thursday, as a meeting with Greek Premier Costas Simitis is scheduled for the same day.

Additionally, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, the current head of the rotating EU presidency, will arrive in Athens next Monday, Feb. 28.

[04] Greece - Demirel - Airspace

Athens stressed on Monday that flights by Greek warplanes over the Aegean are governed by international rules, whereas the Turkish air force ?systematically infringes on FIR rules and Greece˘s national air space?.

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas made the statement in response to recent comments on the issue by Turkish President Suleyman Demirel.

Regarding the Turkish head of state˘s remarks over Cyprus, the Greek spokesman said all interested parties active in the Cyprus issue have recorded a positive participation, ?sans one: Turkey, which does whatever it can to torpedo prospects for a solution to the Cyprus problem.?

Additionally, Reppas said differences between Ankara and Athens remain, while issues of sovereignty are definitely not part of ongoing bilateral talks.

[05] Papandoniou-Brown-meeting

LONDON (ANA - L. Tsirigotakis) -- Greece has fulfilled all five convergence criteria necessary in order to become the 12th European Monetary Union (EMU) member this June, National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou told his British counterpart Gordon Brown during a meeting here on Monday.

Papantoniou is in the British capital to attend a conference entitled "Developments and Prospects of the Greek Capital Market", organised by the "Economist" and the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE).

The two men also discussed the course of the European economy and Greece's participation in the 'euro-zone'.

"Our first subject was Greece's participation in EMU with the submission of our application in early March and the prospect of a decision at an EU summit in Portugal, on June 20," Papantoniou said after the meeting.

He said that, following fulfillment of all five convergence criteria, there should be no problems in the country's entry procedure, while he appeared optimistic that Greece would become a member of the euro-zone in June.

[06] ASE-close

Equity prices came under pressure on Monday pushing the general index below the 5,200 level on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Traders said the market suffered from lack of fresh capital with turnover falling to its lowest level since last July.

The general index ended 1.72 percent lower at 5,186.30 points, off the day's lows of 5,164.51 points, with all sector indices suffering losses despite some buying support from institutional investors in the last half-hour of trading. Turnover was a low 148.9 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 1.53 percent to 2,799.80 points, while the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 2.24 percent lower to 853.68 points.

The parallel market for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 1,390.24, down 2.71 percent.

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