Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] FM briefs cabinet on EU's enlargement process, Cyprus issue, Euroforce

[02] Greeks aware of EU's enlargement process

[03] PASOK Eurodeputy calls for boycott of 'Miss World' beauty contest in

[04] Queen Sophia of Spain inaugurates art exhibition

[05] Annan message on occasion of United Nations Day

[06] Defence General Staff Chief to depart for Sofia for S.E. European

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[08] Greek stocks end 1.40 percent lower on Wednesday

[01] FM briefs cabinet on EU's enlargement process, Cyprus issue, Euroforce

Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday spoke of the European Union's enlargement prospects during a meeting of the government cabinet, government spokesman Christos Protopapas said.

Papandreou called the common agricultural policy issues and the structural fund issues very difficult, while stressing that the solution of the Cyprus issue is not a precondition for the accession of the island republic to the EU.

Protopapas said the foreign minister called on the cabinet to be vigilant and noted that Cyprus will enter the EU formally as a single state, in accordance with the German model, while he ascertained that there will be some ''movements'' concerning the Cyprus problem after the Turkish elections.

On briefing the ministers about his meeting with United Nations secretary general special envoy Alvaro de Soto, Papandreou said that he asked of him to adhere to the resolutions of the Security Council, as well as their spirit.

[02] Greeks aware of EU's enlargement process

BRUSSELS (ANA - V. Demiris) - The majority of European Union citizens do not know which are the countries that will enter the EU during the upcoming enlargement phase, a Eurobarometer study showed.

The study involving opinion polls throughout the EU was published on Wednesday and noted that Greeks seemed to be the best informed citizens in the EU, apparently because of Cyprus' accession process and Turkey's candidacy.

Greeks, however, were the least informed on the dates of the candidate countries' accession.

The opinion poll was conducted between Sept. 11 and 21, in all 15 member-states and involved some 15,000 Europeans, while the Greek specimen numbered 1,000 persons and was conducted by ICAP.

More specifically, European citizens that took part in the opinion poll knew of Poland's accession at a rate of 27 per cent, while none knew about Malta and 2 per cent knew of Cyprus' accession.

Greeks, however, knew of Cyprus' accession at a rate of 51 per cent and a 40 per cent knew of Turkey's candidacy for accession to the EU, but only 17 per cent of Greeks knew that the accession process will end in 2004, while the EU average was 26 per cent.

[03] PASOK Eurodeputy calls for boycott of 'Miss World' beauty contest in Nigeria

STRASBOURG (ANA - O. Tsipira) - Ruling PASOK Eurodeputy Anna Karamanou, speaking at the European Parliament plenum on Wednesday, called for a boycott of the ''Miss World'' beauty contest which is scheduled to be held in Nigeria in December.

Karamanou, who is president of the Committee for Women's Rights, said that ''over and above any objections which one may have about the institution, it is unacceptable for such a grand international event to be held in a country which sentences women to be stoned to death.''

Karamanou asked of the Parliament to take action in support of the non-participation of European Union member-countries in the beauty contest which she said is taking place in a country ''which does not respect the fundamental rights of women.'' She appealed for the example to be followed of Belgium, France, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland which have already stated that they are withdrawing their participation.

European Parliament President Pat Cox showed particular interest in Karamanou's proposal and asked of the Greek Eurodeputy to give written details in order for him to examine the issue.

[04] Queen Sophia of Spain inaugurates art exhibition

Queen Sophia of Spain and President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos inaugurated an exhibition of works by Salvador Dali at the Cycladic Art Museum on Wednesday evening.

Present at the opening of the exhibition, which includes 30 paintings by Dali, were, among others, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his wife Daphne, main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Costas Karamanlis and his wife Natasa, Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Spanish counterpart Pilar del Castillo, PASOK Central Committee Secretary Costas Laliotis, ND Honorary President Costas Mitsotakis, ND deputy Miltiades Evert, film director Jules Dassin, actress Irene Pappas and many ambassadors.

Queen Sophia and President Stephanopoulos had also inaugurated an art exhibition of works by Picasso at the National Gallery on Tuesday.

[05] Annan message on occasion of United Nations Day

On the occasion of United Nations Day on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a message on Wednesday conveyed his best wishes and a particular greeting to the two newest UN member countries.

''On this United Nations Day I send you my most cordial wishes, with particular greetings, this year, to the peoples of the newest member-states, Switzerland and East Timor,'' Annan said.

''More clearly than ever before, the United Nations represents the entire human family and never before has the human family needed the United Nations as much as it does today,'' the UN chief noted.

''So few are the things which a nation can control by itself alone, relying clearly only on its own resources, and there are so many things which the peoples of the world can achieve if we all work together. We should therefore love our United Nations and give to every human being a share in this success,'' he added.

''How will we do this? Working to fulfil the promises which the leaders of all the United Nations gave two years ago, at the Conference for the Millennium.

''These promises were based on fundamental human needs - from the restriction of poverty up to the ending of the spread of AIDS and to the granting of access to safe drinking water. They also set a date: 2015. We call them Aims of the Millennium for Development,'' he noted.

''It is a pity that we say this, but we are not on the right path. If we don't achieve things better in the next 12 years compared to the previous ten, we will not achieve most of these aims. Every country needs to make a greater effort. And this will happen only if you, the people of each country, insist that what must be done will be done,'' he noted, concluding that ''it is your United Nations. Don't lose the opportunity.''

[06] Defence General Staff Chief to depart for Sofia for S.E. European meeting

National Defence General Staff Chief Gen. George Antonakopoulos on Thursday will depart for Sofia, Bulgaria to participate in the meeting of the General Staff Chiefs of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

This meeting is following up the initiative of the defense ministers of the four countries, who met in February and September 2002.

The General Staff Chiefs will discuss issues related to multilateral cooperation, establishing trust, security and stability in Southeastern Europe.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.985

Pound sterling 0.636

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.213

Japanese yen 122.1

Swiss franc 1.477

Norwegian kroner 7.460

Cyprus pound 0.576

Canadian dollar 1.545

Australian dollar 1.780

[08] Greek stocks end 1.40 percent lower on Wednesday

Greek stocks continued losing ground for the third consecutive session in the Athens Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with blue chip stocks like Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation leading the decline (off 3.68 percent).

Traders said the Greek bourse followed international markets' fall.

The general index dropped 1.40 percent to end at 1,773.56 points.

The Insurance, Holding, IT Solutions and Publication sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (4.25 percent, 4.13 percent, 3.17 percent and 2.74 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 1.62 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 1.31 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 1.58 percent lower.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 280 to 44 with another 31 issues unchanged.

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