Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Christodoulakis unveils economy policy for 2003

[02] EU commissioner Diamantopoulou holds talks with Bulgarian PM

[03] President Stephanopoulos begins five-day official visit to South Africa

[04] EU decision on Euroforce satisfies Greek positions, gov't says

[05] Weather Forecast: Fair with light cloud on Wednesday

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[07] Blue chips lead ASE higher on Tuesday

[01] Christodoulakis unveils economy policy for 2003

Reducing unemployment and inflation will be the two main priorities of the government's economic policy in 2003, Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said on Tuesday.

Addressing a conference on ''Economy Policy and Development'', Mr Christodoulakis noted that the unemployment rate, despite falling to single-digit, remained relatively high while inflation was still above the average community rate.

The Greek minister predicted that the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would rise by 3.8 percent this year and slightly below an initial target of 4.1 percent in 2003 because of negative international economic conditions.

Christodoulakis estimated that inflation would gradually fall in 2003 from current levels.

''We are living in a period of intense political and economic uncertainty globally, with low growth rates in Europe,'' Christodoulakis said. He predicted that economic recovery was not expected before the second half of 2003 and stressed that these conditions were affecting the Greek economy too.

The government's 2003 budget, expected to be submitted to parliament in November, would focus on maintaining economic stability conditions, fiscal restructuring and funding of a social security and tax reformm, he noted.

[02] EU commissioner Diamantopoulou holds talks with Bulgarian PM

SOFIA (ANA - B. Borisov) - European Union commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou held talks here on Tuesday with Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotski, Deputy Prime Minister and Labour and Social Policy Minister Lydia Souleva, economic officials and social agencies.

Speaking to the Athens News Agency (ANA) after her meeting with the Bulgarian prime minister, Diamantopoulou said ''we discussed with the Bulgarian prime minister the issues of employment and handling the serious problem of unemployment in Bulgaria which has reached 19 percent. We analysed in particular policies which will allow the transfer of labour potential from the agricultural sector, which is big and is about 26 percent, to the labour market.''

[03] President Stephanopoulos begins five-day official visit to South Africa

CAPE TOWN (ANA - N. Megadoukas) - President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos arrived here on Tuesday night for a five-day official to South Africa at the invitation ofPresident Thabo Mbeki.

The president is accompanied by deputy foreign ministers Yiannis Magriotis and Andreas Loverdos, as well as by a large delegation of Greek businessmen.

Stephanopoulos and Mbeki will hold talks early Wednesday afternoon on bilateral and international issues. The Greek president will later address a joint meeting of the national Parliament and South Africa's National Regional Council.

[04] EU decision on Euroforce satisfies Greek positions, gov't says

The final decision on the Euroforce issue made by EU leaders in Brussels over the weekend absolutely satisfied Greek positions and protected Greek interests, government spokesman Christos Protopapas said on Tuesday.

The EU had continued talks with NATO over the Euroforce issue until the eve of the summit the previous Thursday, based on the decisions of the Seville EU summit, he told reporters. Outstanding questions that remained were then settled in successive meetings between EU common foreign policy and defence chief Javier Solana and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, as well as Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou.

Asked about Turkey's reactions to the text, the spokesman said he had no knowledge, noting only that Solana was already in talks with NATO, of which Turkey was a member.

[05] Weather Forecast: Fair with light cloud on Wednesday

Fair weather is forecast throughout the country with only light cloud in eastern and southern Greece. Winds northerly light in the west, strong to very strong in the east, turning to gale force in the southeastern Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 4C to 21C; in the Ionian from 9C to 24C; and in the Aegean from 10C to 23C. Fair weather in Athens with temperatures between 12C and 22C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures between 7C and 21C.

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[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.989

Pound sterling 0.635

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.178

Japanese yen 122.1

Swiss franc 1.477

Norwegian kroner 7.450

Cyprus pound 0.576

Canadian dollar 1.545

Australian dollar 1.772

[07] Blue chips lead ASE higher on Tuesday

Greek stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors returned as active buyers in the market after a three-day holiday in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index ended 0.70 percent higher at 1,773.69 points, reflecting gains in Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation's share price. Turnover was a low 55.8 million euros.

The Holding, Construction and Publication sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (2.10 percent, 1.82 percent and 1.59 percent, respectively), while the Insurance (-2.25 percent), Textiles (-2.14 percent) and Investment (-0.80 percent) sectors suffered the heaviest losses.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.62 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.25 percent higher and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index rose 0.50 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 123 to 117 with another 71 issues unchanged.

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