Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-02-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] EU presidency to push for greatest convergence of views on Iraq crisis

[02] FM Papandreou stresses importance of EU-Arab dialogue

[03] Talks with Golden Aviation fall flat in sale of Olympic Airways

[04] Original Matisse prints stolen from Lesvos museum

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[06] Weather Forecast: Rainy, stormy on Wednesday

[07] Greek stocks lose more ground on Tuesday

[01] EU presidency to push for greatest convergence of views on Iraq crisis

The Greek EU presidency will exhaust all possibilities for achieving the greatest possible convergence of views in the European Union on the Iraq crisis, Greece's defence minister Yannos Papantoniou reiterated on Tuesday, and reaffirmed that in no instance would Greek troops be deployed in operations in Iraq.

Papantoniou made the statements after a meeting with prime minister Costas Simitis covering the developments in Iraq and preparations for Thursday's Cabinet meeting, which would discuss defence issues for the first time.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Papantoniou said that although there were differences of opinion among the EU partners and no common EU stance had been achieved on the Iraq crisis, the Greek EU presidency would nevertheless exhaust all possibilities for achieving the greatest possible convergence of views so that the EU would ''either advance a peaceful settlement of the problem, if possible, or ensure adherence to the procedures based on the principles governing the UN.''

The defence minister further reiterated that in no instance would Greek troops be sent to operations in Iraq.

Greece, he added, would back such operations provided a relevant decision was taken by the International Community, but clarified that the backing would only concern the provision of facilities.

[02] FM Papandreou stresses importance of EU-Arab dialogue

BEIRUT (ANA - F. Karaviti) -- Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, current president of the EU council of ministers, in Beirut on Tuesday stressed the increasing importance of a European Union-Arab countries dialogue.

Following his meeting with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, Papandreou pointed to the willingness of Lebanese and Arab leaders to cooperate with the EU on conveying a clear message to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and did not rule out the possibility of a joint EU-Arab initiative to dispatch to Baghdad a special delegation of Arabs and possibly also Europeans.

Papandreou on Tuesday is flying from Beirut to New York where he will attend the UN Security Council meeting on Iraq, after which he will resume his Mideast tour.

[03] Talks with Golden Aviation fall flat in sale of Olympic Airways

The government has called off negotiations with Golden Aviation Holding of the Restis shipping group in a privatisation tender for Olympic Airways, the ailing national carrier, tender consultants said in a statement on Tuesday.

The consultants - National Bank of Greece, Commercial Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank - did not say in the statement whether or not sale talks would begin with Aegean Airlines, which came second in the tender.

A spokesman for Aegean Airlines said it had no information on whether it would be asked to begin negotiations.

[04] Original Matisse prints stolen from Lesvos museum

Thirty pages and original lithographic prints from the masterpiece ''Jazz'' - the book created in later life by impressionist master Henri Matisse that is considered one of his most important and ambitious works - have been reported stolen from the Teriade Museum on Lesvos.

The theft was discovered on Sunday by museum director Constantinos Maniatopoulos, after a regular inspection.

The stolen pages were taken from a locked display cabinet in a secure area and had been replaced with other illustrations of lesser value by the same artist.

There were no signs that the display case had been broken into and it is believed that the theft occurred during museum opening hours while the guards were monitoring other areas.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.090

Pound sterling 0.662

Danish kroner 7.495

Swedish kroner 9.316

Japanese yen 130.9

Swiss franc 1.479

Norwegian kroner 7.546

Cyprus pound 0.584

Canadian dollar 1.654

Australian dollar 1.850

[06] Weather Forecast: Rainy, stormy on Wednesday

Rain and storms are forecast in all parts of the country. Snow will fall on high ground and in low-lying areas of Epirus and Macedonia. Winds variable, very strong to gale force. In the north, temperatures will range from 2 to 9C; on the rest of the mainland and Ionian from 6C to 15C; and in the islands from 10C to 17C. Temperatures in Athens between 10C and 14C; and in Thessaloniki from 5C to 9C.

[07] Greek stocks lose more ground on Tuesday

Greek stocks came under pressure to end moderately lower in the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, reflecting investors' worries over geopolitical developments and disappointment over a failed privatisation of Hellenic Petroleum.

The general index fell 0.62 percent to end at 1,667.19 points, with turnover a low 64.7 million euros.

The IT Solution, IT, Food-Beverage and Textile sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (3.23 percent, 2.48 percent, 1.82 percent and 1.68 percent, respectively), while the parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks eased 1.81 percent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.46 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.69 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index dropped 1.12 percent. The wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 0.56 percent off.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 248 to 70 with another 34 issues unchanged.

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