Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-08-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] FYROM FM briefs Papandreou on peace pact

[02] First Greek troops depart for NATO mission in FYROM

[03] Athens Stock Exchange opening: performance mixed

[01] FYROM FM briefs Papandreou on peace pact

A NATO-brokered peace pact between the government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albanian rebels, including the latter's agreement to disarm, were discussed during a meeting on Thursday in Athens between Foreign Minister George Papandreou and his FYROM counterpart Ilinka Mitreva.

Mitreva is on a Balkan tour to brief the governments of neighbouring countries about the details of the pact, which was signed between four major parties in FYROM in mid-August, including the main ethnic Albanian parties.

Greece is sending a large contingent to participate in a NATO mission in FYROM, whose task is to collect weapons laid down by Albanian rebels in the framework of the agreement.

[02] First Greek troops depart for NATO mission in FYROM

The first men in a Greek contingent assigned to NATO's "Essential Harvest" mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) left on Thursday after a ceremony at its camp in Kilkis prefecture.

The NATO forces have been sent to collect weapons laid down by Albanian rebels under a peace deal signed between the government and ethnic Albanian political leaders earlier in August.

On their way to Krivolak, where the Greek contingent in FYROM will be stationed, is a command force of 10 officers and 10 petty officers.

A force of another 150 troops will depart for the same region on Friday and the last Greek troops will depart for FYROM on Saturday.

In total, the Greek contingent will number 411 men, all volunteers, and includes seven conscripts who also volunteered.

[03] Athens Stock Exchange opening: performance mixed

Equities were volatile at the opening of trade Thursday on the Athens Stock Exchange, with initial gains quickly reversed by profit taking. Twenty minutes into the session, the general index was marginally higher by 0.04 percent at 2,692.33 points and turnover was 7.3 million euro.

Individual sector indices were mixed, with the biggest gains for investments, up 1.22 per cent, and the biggest losses for IT products and solutions, down 0.71 per cent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was up 0.05 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was up 0.2 percent, and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP index was up 0.42 percent.

Of the stocks moved, 143 were up, 56 were down and 41 were unchanged.

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