Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-01-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek FM Papandreou meets with FYROM PM in Skopje

[02] 2003 most crucial year for Olympics preparations, PM says

[03] PM Simitis holds talks with IOC President Rogge in Athens

[04] FM to hold talks with UN, US envoys for Cyprus this week

[05] Greek-U.S. police cooperation memorandum in Parliament

[06] Magistrate orders 19th N17 suspect be remanded in custody

[07] Weather Forecast: Rain, snow expected on Tuesday

[08] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[09] Greek stocks end flat on Monday

[01] Greek FM Papandreou meets with FYROM PM in Skopje

SKOPJE (ANA/E. Boukaouri) - Greece's Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Monday met with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Prime Minister Branco Cervenkovski in Skopje, on the first stop of his three-day tour of Western Balkan countries.

Papandreou, currently also President of the EU Council of Ministers, told reporters after the talks that his meeting with Cervenkovski focused on the Greek EU Presidency's programme up until the EU Summit in Thessaloniki in June, when the EU planned to hold a parallel Summit with the Balkan states.

The Greek minister said that the issue regarding the name of the neighbouring country was not discussed, adding however that the EU would be pleased with a solution of the name issue, which was currently being discussed under the auspices of the United Nations.

Papandreou said that the future of the Balkans and boosting their co-operation with the EU was also discussed at the meeting, as well as general regional issues, such as combatting organised crime, corruption, and unemployment, which was nearing 40% in FYROM, according to recent official statistics.

He said the picture he wished for the Balkan region was one that reflected the efforts being made for security, stability and prosperity, instead of the classic picture of countries constantly at war.

The Balkan region was among the top priorities of the Greek EU Presidency and a memorandum has been drafted for boosting cooperation between the Balkan states and the EU, while the process for their accession to the EU was in progress, Papandreou said.

Later on Monday, Papandreou departed for Albania.

[02] 2003 most crucial year for Olympics preparations, PM says

The year 2003 would be the most critical in preparing for the Athens Olympics in 2004, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said on Monday after a meeting of the government committee for Olympics preparations.

The premier additionally stressed the ''Greece 2004'' programme, through which the government hoped to show that the Olympics were an affair that concerned the entire country, not just the capital.

Simitis praised the Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC) for the good results achieved in 2002 and noted that the majority of Olympics-related infrastructure projects - with 235 currently in progress throughout Greece - would be completed over the coming year, as well as other programmes such as the Cultural Olympiad, Olympic Education, hospitality, greenspaces, security and others.

The premier particularly the emphasised the Olympics budget, asking all involved to keep to it religiously so that it did not exceed 1.5 trillion drachmas as decided the previous year.

Additionally, he stressed that time was extremely short and there was no room for complacency.

Simitis asked the ministers to submit updated action plans for 2003 to the Olympic Games General Secretariat over the coming weeks and referred to legal problems that had delayed Olympics preparations from suits filed by private citizens against Olympics works.

[03] PM Simitis holds talks with IOC President Rogge in Athens

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis met International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on Monday.

Also present at the meeting were IOC Coordinating Committee President Denis Oswald, the general director of the IOC's technical section, Gilbert Felli,Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Athens 2004 Organising Committee (ATHOC) President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.

As stated by Venizelos after the meeting, Rogge and Oswald were particularly satisfied by Monday night's meeting because, as Rogge characteristically said, there were more solutions and fewer problems.

Rogge and Oswald asked questions concerning the work being carried out at the Olympic Stadium and at the international zone of the Olympic Village and received immediate replies, the culture minister said.

Also raised at Monday's meeting were issues concerning the Schengen Treaty, which is also of interest to Italy which will host the Winter Olympic Games in 2006.

Issues related to employment and the legal framework of the foreign employees during the 2004 Games, particularly those who will be employed in the radio and television media, was also discussed.

[04] FM to hold talks with UN, US envoys for Cyprus this week

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou is to discuss developments on the Cyprus issue on Thursday with visiting United Nations envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto and United States Cyprus envoy Thomas Weston, the foreign ministry announced on Monday.

Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis also answered questions regarding US requests for facilitations in the event of a military campaign against Iraq, saying that in talks between Papandreou and US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller the issue of Greek participation in operations on the ground had not been raised.

Greece would provide facilitations at sea and in the air, such as use of the Souda base and permission to use Greek airspace, similar to those it had provided during the campaign against Afghanistan, he added.

The spokesman also announced meetings on Thursday between Papandreou and EU High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Police Javier Solana, which would focus on developments in the Middle East, the situation in the Balkans, Cyprus, European Union enlargement and preparations for other issues related to the ongoing Greek EU presidency.

According to Beglitis, Solana will have a working lunch with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis later on Thursday, while on Friday he will hold separate meetings with Greek Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou and main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis.

[05] Greek-U.S. police cooperation memorandum in Parliament

A police cooperation memorandum between the government of Greece and the United States was tabled in Parliament for ratification on Monday.

The memorandum was signed two years ago and anticipates cooperation in the fields of training, exchanging information, coordinating action and organising meetings between experts.

Cooperation will take place in accordance with the national legislation of each country, observance of confidentiality for whatever information and with the possibility of a specific call for cooperation being rejected if its acceptance would jeopardise a country's sovereignty, security and public order or would be contrary to its laws and international commitments.

[06] Magistrate orders 19th N17 suspect be remanded in custody

Anestis Papanastasiou, the latest suspect detained by authorities in connection with the urban guerrilla group 'November 17', was remanded in custody on Monday by special appeals magistrate Leonidas Zervobeakos and appeals public prosecutor Constantinos Vomviris.

Despite strenuous denials, the 41-year-old bank clerk failed to convince the two justices of his innocence when he appeared before Zervobeakos on Monday to answer to charges of joining and participating in a criminal organisation. He will now be led to join another 18 fellow-suspects awaiting trial as alleged terrorists at Korydallos prison.

Police arrested Papanastasiou, the cousin of alleged N17 founder-member Nikos Papanastasiou, after finding his fingerprints on a map of a army camp in Serres and on notes found in N17 safehouses. He attributes the evidence to coincidence and says the map was stolen from his home.

[07] Weather Forecast: Rain, snow expected on Tuesday

Most of the country will be cloudy with snow in the north and on high ground in the rest of the country, along with showers in low-lying areas. Winds north-northeasterly, light to strong, turning very strong in the Aegean from evening. In the north, temperatures will range from -6C to 3C; in the centre from -2C to 9C; and in the rest of the country from 1C to 13C. Athens may see rain or sleet, with temperatures between 3C and 10C. Temperatures in Thessaloniki from -1C to 3C.

[08] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.063

Pound sterling 0.662

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.245

Japanese yen 126.7

Swiss franc 1.473

Norwegian kroner 7.347

Cyprus pound 0.580

Canadian dollar 1.637

Australian dollar 1.825

[09] Greek stocks end flat on Monday

Greek stocks ended flat the first trading session of the week in the Athens Stock Exchange, with investors largely sidelined awaiting fresh news and incentives.

The general index eased 0.02 percent to end at 1,703.50 points, off the day's lows of 1,693 points. Turnover was a low 63.5 million euros.

The Insurance, Investment and Bank sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (5.61 percent, 1.0 percent and 0.98 percent, respectively), while the Publication, Construction and Telecommunication sectors scored gains (1.38 percent, 1.06 percent and 0.78 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.14 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.12 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index fell 0.50 percent. The wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 0.17 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 188 to 111 with another 52 issues unchanged.

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