Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-11-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weston concerned over impact by Erdogan's visit in occupied Cyprus

[02] PM and visiting Croatian president discuss inter-Balkan cooperation

[03] Visiting Croatian president Mesic signs Olympic Truce declaration

[04] Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos to make official visit to Greece

[05] Hellenic Petroleum to invest 150 mln eurs in Bulgaria over five years

[06] Crete to get new international airport

[07] Balkan & Black Sea Partnership 2003 end in Thessaloniki

[08] Weather Forecast: Warm and sunny on Thursday

[09] Foreign Exchange Rates: Thursday

[10] Greek stocks end off lows on Wednesday

[01] Weston concerned over impact by Erdogan's visit in occupied Cyprus

US State Department Special Coordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston expressed concerns that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's illegal visit to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus could be exploited by various parties in the occupied areas to prevent the resumption of the UN-led talks to reunify the island.

Speaking after a meeting in Athens on Wednesday with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Weston noted however, ''there's reason to believe that the visit could have a positive impact in terms of moving back to talks''.

Weston arrived in Athens on Wednesday from Ankara, where he had talks on the Cyprus issue with the Turkish government, and was due to hold consultations with the Cyprus government on Thursday in Nicosia.

Papandreou said the coming months will be critical and important for the national issue of Cyprus.

[02] PM and visiting Croatian president discuss inter-Balkan cooperation

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and visiting Croatian President Stjepan Mesic expressed support for enhanced cooperation between Balkan states during their meeting in Athens on Wednesday, while clarifying that this in no way implied an intention for Yugoslavia's reunification.

Mesic stressed that his country was determined to leave the past behind and progress toward the European Union, adopting the necessary laws and European standards.

The two men also discussed the construction of the Ionian Route that will join western Greece, the Adriatic Coast and western Europe, stressing the importance of the project, while Simitis said the Greek section will be completed using funds from the 3rd Community Support Framework by 2007.

The Greek premier also hailed Croatia's progress in its European course and pledged that the Greek government will continue to support Croatia's efforts.

[03] Visiting Croatian president Mesic signs Olympic Truce declaration

Visiting Croatian president Stjepan Mesic on Wednesday added his signature to those of the other prominent international personalities who have signed the Olympic Truce declaration at a special event held at the Greek foreign ministry.

Mesic, on an official visit to Greece, thanked Greece for its support to the effort for European integration, and said he was impressed by Greek history, the idea of the Olympic Ekecheiria (Truce) and its revival.

Foreign minister George Papandreou spoke of Croatia's ''significant prospects'' in the EU, which he described as ''one of the biggest structures of peace''.

[04] Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos to make official visit to Greece this month

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will make an official visit to Greece on November 25-27, at the invitation of President Kostis Stephanopoulos. President Papadopoulos will be accompanied by his wife during his visit.

[05] Hellenic Petroleum to invest 150 mln eurs in Bulgaria over five years

SOFIA (ANA/B.Borisov) - Athens-quoted Hellenic Petroleum SA is to invest 150 million euros in Bulgaria over the next five years in building a network of 100 gas stations that will create 2,000 jobs, the group's chairman, George Moraitis, said on Tuesday.

Moraitis was inaugurating a gas station owned by Hellenic's EKO-ELDA subsidiary on a motorway linking the Bulgarian capital to the city of Plovdiv.

[06] Crete to get new international airport

The government announced on Wednesday that a new international airport would be built for Iraklio, Crete at a cost of 813 million euros.

Transport and Communications Minister Christos Verelis told a news conference in the Cretan city that the airport would be located at Kasteli and built to handle capacity until 2020, when an extension could be added.

Construction is to begin in 2005 and end in 2009.

Expansion of the existing Nikos Kazantzakis airport would have cost 420 million euros, the minister added.

[07] Balkan & Black Sea Partnership 2003 end in Thessaloniki

A total of 2,020 business meetings were held during the Balkan & Black Sea Partnership 2003, a partenariat held in Thessaloniki and organised by the Northern Greece Exporters' Union (SEBE), the Inter-Balkan and Black Sea Business Center and funded by the Foreign Affairs ministry.

A statement issued at the end of the partenariat, said that 1,579 business meetings had been pre-arranged while another 421 meetings were scheduled during the event. SEBE said that according to international experience, around one-third of these meetings ended, directly or in the long-term, in partnerships.

A total of 126 businesses, from Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Turkey, Ukraine and Georgia, participated as exhibitors at the Balkan and Black Sea Partnership 2003. These companies were mainly building material and construction (36 percent), food-beverage (21 percent), clothing (10 percent), Machinery equipment and tools (12 percent) and services (5.0 percent).

[08] Weather Forecast: Warm and sunny on Thursday

Sunshine is forecast in all parts of the country with early morning mist in parts of the mainland. Winds variable, light. Temperatures are to rise slightly, with a minimum of 12C and maximum of 22C in Athens; and in Thessaloniki, 6C to 17C.

[09] Foreign Exchange Rates: Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.200

Pound sterling 0.707

Danish kroner 7.497

Swedish kroner 9.068

Japanese yen 130.8

Swiss franc 1.564

Norwegian kroner 8.251

Cyprus pound 0.588

Canadian dollar 1.562

Australian dollar 1.661

[10] Greek stocks end off lows on Wednesday

Greek stocks eased slightly on Wednesday as a wave of technical buying, particularly in blue chip stocks, in the last hour of trading helped prices recovery from their day's lows in teh Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index ended 0.04 percent lower at 2,130.53 points, after hitting an intra-day low of 2,104.73 points, early in the session.

Turnover was a heavy 138.6 million euros.

The Textile and Retail sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (2.28 percent and 1.50 percent, respectively), while the Holding and Cement sectors scored the biggest percentage gains (0.44 percent and 0.35 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.01 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 0.50 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index eased 0.40 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 220 to 91 with another 47 issues unchanged.

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