Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-02-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] FM to visit Washington for talks on Iraq, Middle East, Korea and Cyprus

[02] ND leader Karamanlis, UN chief Annan, discuss Cyprus issue

[03] Deputy FM Magriotis briefs Chinese counterpart on Iraq, Cyprus

[04] OTE telecom gets Romanian award

[05] Greek EU presidency - preparations for the venue of Thessaloniki Summit

[06] Poll shows most popular companies, entrepreneurs

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[08] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Thursday

[09] Greek stocks end to new five-year lows

[01] FM to visit Washington for talks on Iraq, Middle East, Korea and Cyprus

WASHINGTON (ANA - T. Ellis) - Foreign Minister George Papandreou will conduct a one-day visit to Washington on Thursday, in his capacity as president of the EU's Council of Ministers, for talks on developments in Iraq, the Middle East and the issues of Korea and Cyprus.

The visit is part of the scheduled six-month ministerial meeting between the EU and U.S. and will also focus on other issues concerning Euro-Atlantic dialogue which the Greek EU presidency has set as one of its priorities.

Papandreou, who will arrive in the U.S. capital at dawn (Greek time), accompanied by EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy High Commissioner Javier Solana and Foreign Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, will hold talks at the White House with U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and later at the State Department with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Papandreou will also be meeting a group of experts from foreign policy foundations at the ''John Hopkins'' University.

[02] ND leader Karamanlis, UN chief Annan, discuss Cyprus issue

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis met Wednesday morning in Athens with UN secretary general Kofi Annan with whom he discussed the Cyprus issue.

Karamanlis said after the half-hour meeting that ND supported the effort for finding a Cyprus solution provided, however, that the solution was viable, functional and in accordance with the acquis communautaire and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The ND leader further pointed out to Annan that the ''aspyxiating'' time margins did not allow particular optimism, particularly given that the Turkish Cypriot side persisted in its intransigence and negative attitude.

New Democracy, he reaffirmed, was at the side of the efforts of the Cypriot people and their leadership.

According to diplomatic sources, Annan appeared optimistic after his visit to Ankara and talks with the Turkish government earlier this week before his visit to Athens, and felt that the Turkish government desired that a Cyprus solution be found.

The same sources said that Annan hopes that Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash's objections would be overcome by the pre-referendum to be held in the occupied sector of Cyprus in early March, although there were still issues regarding the terms under which the poll would be carried out.

The sources added that the UN considers that ''everything will be open'' if the pre-referendum rejected the UN proposal for seeking a solution.

Karamanlis expressed concern to Annan over the functionality of the draft plan, but Annan opined that any problems that may arise would be overcome by the European dynamic.

[03] Deputy FM Magriotis briefs Chinese counterpart on Iraq, Cyprus

Deputy Foreign Minister Giannis Magriotis met with his Chinese counterpart Zao Zintu on Wednesday, who is currently on a visit Athens.

The Greek minister briefed his counterpart on a number of issues, including developments in Iraq and the European Unions positions on the crisis, according to a Foreign Ministry announcement.

With regard to the North Korea, Magriotis asked the Zintu for his countrys influence toward resolving the crisis in North Korea. The Cyprus problem was also discussed, with Magriotis noting the good will on the part of the Greek and Cypriot sides and the lack of cooperation mainly on the part Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. He also thanked Zintu for Chinas support toward a solution of the problem.

Magriotis said that Greece-China cooperation in the sectors of tourism, economy, technology and culture should be furthered.

The Chinese deputy foreign minister expressed his countrys agreement with Greek and EU positions on the crisis in Iraq, while he said that a peaceful resolution to the Cyprus problem was China's standing position.

He added his country appreciated Greek efforts to promote values such as peace and democracy through the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

[04] OTE telecom gets Romanian award

Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE), a heavily traded stock on the Athens bourse, received a Romanian award as the country's largest foreign investor.

The award was received from President Ion Iliescu on behalf of the firm by OTE International's chairman, George Skarpelis.

Skarpelis told the ceremony that OTE would continue to modernise Romtelecom, which it owns.

[05] Greek EU presidency - preparations for the venue of Thessaloniki Summit

The Greek foreign ministry and representatives of ''Porto Carras'' hotel signed an agreement with which the plush complex undertakes the responsibility to revamp its areas and prepare them for hosting the European Union Summit in June 2003.

Based on strict specifications forwarded to them by the ministry, the representatives of Porto Carras, a 3000-acre complex located in the northern Greek peninsula of Halkidiki, will forward a time schedule and alternative proposals for the project to ensure completion in early June.

[06] Poll shows most popular companies, entrepreneurs

Tradelink Reputation Management on Tuesday announced the findings of a survey among the public to find the 20 companies and entrepreneurs with the best name.

In alphabetical order, the companies were: AB Vasilopoulos, Alpha Bank, Germanos, Carrefour, HBC Coca-Cola, Cosmote, Delta, EFG Eurobank Ergasias, National Bank of Greece, Goody's, Interamerican, Intracom, Kotsovolos, Mevgal, Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, Sklavenitis, Sony, Toyota, Vodafone and FAGE.

Also in alphabetical order, the entrepreneurs with the best name were: Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Theodoros Angelopoulos, George Apostolopoulos, Vardis Vardinoyiannis, Gerasimos Vasilopoulos, Panayiotis Germanos, Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Prodromos Emfietzoglou, Socrates Kokkalis, Dimitris Kondominas, Minos Kyriakou, Yiannis Kostopoulos, Christos Lambrakis, Yiannis Latsis, Spyros Latsis, Dimitris Marinopoulos, Eleftherios Mouzakis, Evangelos Mytilineos, Yiannis Filippou, and Stelios Hatzioannou.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.083

Pound sterling 0.687

Danish kroner 7.487

Swedish kroner 9.172

Japanese yen 127.2

Swiss franc 1.472

Norwegian kroner 7.672

Cyprus pound 0.585

Canadian dollar 1.621

Australian dollar 1.789

[08] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Thursday

Sunshine is forecast in most parts of the country, with light cloud in the east and south. Early morning visibility will be limited on the mainland and in the Ionian. Winds variable, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from -5C to 10C; on the rest of the mainland from -2C to 12C; and in the northern and eastern islands from -2C to 12C. Temperatures in Athens between 1C and 11C; and in Thessaloniki from -2C to 9C.

[09] Greek stocks end to new five-year lows

Greek stocks remained under pressure for the sixth consecutive session in the Athens Stock Exchange on Wednesday pushing the general index to its lowest levels in the last five years.

The index fell 0.37 percent to end at 1,618.37 points, with turnover a low 65.4 million euros.

The IT Solutions, Construction and Insurance sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (2.92 percent, 2.72 percent and 1.34 percent, respectively), while the Cement (1.75 percent), Metals (0.76 percent) and Textile (0.49 percent) sectors scored the biggest percentage gains.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.32 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.32 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index eased 0.22 percent and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 0.31 percent off.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 164 to 124 with another 65 issues unchanged.

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