Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-02-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] 'Window of opportunity' still open for Iraq, Papandreou says after

[02] Greek FM presents results of first Union-wide 'e-Vote'

[03] Cyprus President Papadopoulos to visit Athens on Thursday

[04] Eurocities network conference on social exclusion

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[06] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Saturday

[07] Greek stocks end the week 3.95 pct lower

[01] 'Window of opportunity' still open for Iraq, Papandreou says after Paris talks

PARIS (ANA - O. Tsipira) - A ''window of opportunity'' remains open even now for Iraq, Foreign Minister George Papandreou said during a press conference held at the French foreign ministry on Friday.

Papandreou also stressed that the Greek EU presidency requested of the United States the convening of an U.S.-EU summit in June to discuss international security, adding that the request met with a positive response and so U.S. President George Bush and the European Union leadership will meet to discuss the issue.

The Greek minister arrived in Paris on his way to Europe from the U.S. capital to meet with his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin.

Papandreou conceded that in his meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top U.S. officials he experienced a climate of preparations toward a possible intervention in Iraq.

He underlined that despite the different approaches to the issue, Powell said that ''the war is not inevitable'', while Papandreou said that he aimed at taking that message to the Arab League summit in Egypt on Saturday, where he will participate as the representative of the European Union's presidency.

''I will try to pass on the message in the hope that it will be taken to Saddam Hussein. The opportunity still exists, if his moves are in accordance with the demands of the United Nations, so that no doubt may be left to anyone concerning his disarmament,'' Papandreou said.

Speaking of the European Union's stance on the issue, he said that the only thing that he can say as president of the foreign ministers' council is that the EU provides support for the inspectors in means and time.

Papandreou added that the issue of mass destruction weapons is of immediate importance for the EU, which also has its attention focused on North Korea as a priority.

[02] Greek FM presents results of first Union-wide 'e-Vote'

ANA (BRUSSELS) -- Greek Foreign Minister and EU president in office George Papandreou on Friday briefed EU foreign ministers here on the initial results from e-Vote, a new experiment in so-called ?e-democracy? from the Greek presidency, aimed at gauging the views of citizens across the continent on a range of key issues facing the Union.

More than 30,000 people participated in e-Vote, set up and running for the past two weeks.

Papandreou told EU counterparts that he was pleased with the high level of early interest in e-Vote and called on them to encourage participation in whatever way possible.

?For this experiment to be a success, we need the widest possible public participation,? he said.

e-Vote offers anyone the opportunity to visit http://evote.EU2003.gr and to share their ideas, opinions and suggestions about the present and future EU. Five votes are currently active on the EU today, the EUs role in the world, the future of the EU, the Iraq crisis, and last weeks extraordinary EU summit. Additional polls will be added over the course of the Greek presidency.

Among the initial results reported by Papandreou on Friday:

-- More than 70 percent of e-Voters think that the European Union, and their own country, are generally moving in the right direction today;

-- By far the biggest concern of e-Voters (47 percent) are economic issues; terrorism is only the biggest concern for 3 percent;

-- 84 percent think the EU should have a larger and more active role in world affairs;

-- 64 percent think that UN weapons inspectors should be given more time in Iraq.

[03] Cyprus President Papadopoulos to visit Athens on Thursday

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will visit Athens on Thursday March 6, Deputy Mass Media and Press Minister Telemahos Hytiris announced on Friday.

The new visit to Athens by Papadopoulos aims at coordination between Greece and Cyprus, in light of the invitation extended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the new Cyprus president and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to meet him at The Hague on March 30 to tell him whether or not they would sign a commitment to submit a peace plan for approval with referendums on March 30.

Earlier this week, Papadopoulos, then president-elect, visited Athens for talks with Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

[04] Eurocities network conference on social exclusion

A conference organised by the Eurocities network and the European Network Against Poverty, entitled ?EU Strategy for Social Inclusion: Towards A Successful Operation at the Local Level?, opened in Athens on Friday.

?The European Union needs policies and social stability in order to become the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world,? Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni said in greeting delegates to the conference.

Among others, the former high-profile New Democracy deputy also cited what she called major problems faced by modern European societies, including poverty, social exclusion and xenophobia.

On her part, EU Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou cited the need to set measurable goals in order to reduce poverty and social exclusion by 2010, as well as to mobilise all involved parties.

Diamantopoulou offered figures showing that one in six EU citizens gets by with 60 percent or less of his countrys average per capita income; one in 10 faces the threat of poverty although without social insurance the percentage would be up to one fourth.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.086

Pound sterling 0.689

Danish kroner 7.487

Swedish kroner 9.219

Japanese yen 128.3

Swiss franc 1.474

Norwegian kroner 7.786

Cyprus pound 0.585

Canadian dollar 1.621

Australian dollar 1.795

[06] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Saturday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, turning to showers in the Peloponnese, Cyclades, Crete, the eastern central mainland, eastern Thessaly, and probably in the Dodecanese. Winds variable, moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from -4C to 11C; on the rest of the mainland from -1C to 13C; and in the islands from 5C to 14C. Temperatures in Athens between 4C and 13C; and in Thessaloniki from 0C to 11C.

[07] Greek stocks end the week 3.95 pct lower

A recovery in European markets helped the Athens Stock Exchange to end the last trading session of the week in positive territory on Friday, although it ended the week with a net loss of 3.95 percent.

The general index rose 0.03 percent to end at 1,614.06 points, remaining near its five-year lows, with turnover a low 89.3 million euros.

The Metals and Construction sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (3.72 percent and 1.53 percent, respectively), while the parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks rose 1.23 percent.

The Textile, Telecommunications and Cement sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.68 percent, 1.41 percent and 1.35 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.23 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 1.01 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index rose 0.52 percent. The wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 0.05 percent higher.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 175 to 121 with another 60 issues unchanged.

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