Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-06-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek, Turkish FMs discuss problem of warplane violations in Aegean

[02] President's message for World Environment Day

[03] DM to visit FYROM, as EU's presiding minister

[04] Vartholomeos heads symposium for the salvation of the Baltic Sea

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Thursday

[07] Greek stocks jump to new year highs on Wednesday

[01] Greek, Turkish FMs discuss problem of warplane violations in Aegean

MADRID (ANA F. Karaviti) The latest spate of Turkish violations of Greek airspace over the Aegean an often-recurrent problem poisoning bilateral relations for more than a decade earned comments by both the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers here on Wednesday, as the two attended a NATO Summit here.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou noted that he hopes the problem will be solved ?based on international rules.?

On his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul expressed his ?confidence? that ?both sides, which from time to time face problems, will be able to solve (problems) peacefully.?

[02] President's message for World Environment Day

In a message to mark World Environment Day on Thursday, President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos noted the extensive damage that economic and technological development had wreaked on the natural environment, especially in the past few decades, and the serious disruption of the planet's ecological balance.

In many cases, he said, the damage was dangerous or even irreversible.

Stephanopoulos underlined the need for the more economically developed countries, as well as all other nations in the world, to appreciate the seriousness of the problem and to act decisively to deal with the dangers that threaten both the present and coming generations.

[03] DM to visit FYROM, as EU's presiding minister

Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou on Thursday will depart for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to participate in the administrative inspection of the European Union's CONCORDIA peace keeping force.

CONCORDIA is the first EU military mission undertaken by the Union's rapid reaction force.

During his stay in FYROM, Papantoniou will meet with the country's Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and President Boris Trajkovski,, as well as other political leaders.

The minister who is presiding over the European Union's defense ministers' council will be accompanied by the EU's high representative for defense Javier Solana and the permanent representatives of the EU member-states.

[04] Vartholomeos heads symposium for the salvation of the Baltic Sea

TALLINN (ANA - M. Papoutsaki) - Headed by Ecumenical Patriarch Vartolomeos, representatives of religions, special academics, ecologists and journalists, are continuing to take part on board a ship in a symposium for the salvation of the Baltic Sea.

The ship is currently at Estonia's port of Tallinn and the President of Estonia was present at the start of Wednesday morning's sessions. He thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for his initiatives for the environment, at the same time noting the particularities of this closed sea which for the past forty years has started showing serious pollution problems.

On his part, Vartholomeos said it was the duty of humanity to protect and respect the planet.

Taking part in this fifth symposium, organised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, are 250 personalities.

Vatholomeos said that he will visit Ankara on June 12 where he will give an address marking the 25th anniversary of the Pope's election.

The Ecumenical Patriarch will also meet the Turkish prime minister to whom he intends to raise the issue of the reopening of the School of Halki.

The symposium will continue over the coming days in Helsinki and Stockholm.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.178

Pound sterling 0.722

Danish kroner 7.484

Swedish kroner 9.178

Japanese yen 139.7

Swiss franc 1.548

Norwegian kroner 8.142

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.598

Australian dollar 1.772

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Thursday

Most parts of the country will see scattered cloud, with isolated storms likely on high ground in Epirus and Macedonia and showers in Crete. Winds north-northeasterly, light to strong. In the west, temperatures will range from 16C to 32C; on the rest of the mainland from 14C to 30C; and in the Aegean islands from 17C to 27C. Temperatures in Athens between 18C and 30C; and in Thessaloniki from 16C to 28C.

[07] Greek stocks jump to new year highs on Wednesday

The Athens Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Wednesday pushing the general index above the 1,800 level to a new record high for 2003, supported by strong buying interest in blue chip stocks, mainly banks.

The index jumped 3.35 percent to end at 1,839.69 points, with turnover a heavy 559.3 million euros, with net value at 215 million euros. Turnover was boosted by the transfer of a total of 43.5 million shares by Hellenic Petroleum to Petrola, at a price of 7.5 euros per share (worth 326,250,000 euros).

All sector indices scored gains, with the Insurance, Banks, Textile and Holding sectors leading advancers (6.67 percent, 5.13 percent, 4.71 percent and 4.52 percent, respectively), while National Bank (7.34 percent), Emporiki Bank (5.70 percent), Alpha Bank (4.83 percent) and EFG Eurobank (4.32 percent) were leading gainers.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy trading stocks jumped 4.18 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 2.78 percent, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 2.53 percent up and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index jumped 3.76 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 294 to 39 with another 32 issues unchanged.

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