Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-12-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] Karamanlis meets with Raffarin in Paris

[02] FM announces establishment of commercial consular office in FYROM

[03] IOC allows shot-put in ancient Olympia for 2004 Games

[04] OA to merge six flights on Friday due to ongoing strike

[05] Weather Forecast: Cloud, showers on Friday

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

[07] Greek stocks end Thursday's session mixed to lower

[01] Karamanlis meets with Raffarin in Paris

PARIS (ANA - A. Panagopoulos) - Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis on Thursday met with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, following the Summit of the European Center-Right Wing leaders here.

Karamanlis stressed that the critical issue is for Europe to forge forward and underlined that each member-state should have a Commissioner with full rights, while adding that there was indeed progress on the common defense and security issue.

Karamanlis also said a strong stipulation should be included prescribing mutual assistance in the event that a member-state is attacked, an issue of great importance for Greece.

The two men also discussed the Cyprus issue and the European prospects of Turkey.

[02] FM announces establishment of commercial consular office in FYROM

BRUSSELS (ANA - A. Simatos) - Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Thursday announced the establishment of a Greek consular office in the city of Monastir in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

He said that the office will have a commercial and economic character, adding that FYROM will open a similar office in Thessaloniki.

Papandreou noted that ''the establishment of the office in Monastir and of the one in Thessaloniki is an action that contributes to the further development of bilateral relations''.

He also announced that Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Loverdos will arrive in Skopje on Tuesday to formalize the agreement.

[03] IOC allows shot-put in ancient Olympia for 2004 Games

LAUSANNE (ANA) Greek organisers historic request to hold the mens and womens 2004 Olympic shot-put competition in ancient Olympia overcame the last hurdle on Thursday as the International Olympic Committees (IOC) executive board approved the proposal, opening the way for a long-sought link between the modern era and the venerated site where the ancient Games were born.

The Athens 2004 Organising Committees (ATHOC) proposal had already been approved by the Greek governments relevant culture ministry as well as by world athletics federation, IAAF. Top IOC executives, including President Jacques Rogge, hailed the proposal in Athens last week.

[04] OA to merge six flights on Friday due to ongoing strike

National carrier Olympic Airways (OA) has announced the merger of six flights on Friday due to a strike by flight attendants, which is continuing in spite of a court ruling judging it illegal.

The airline said it will be merging flights 145 and 147 from Athens-Brussels-Athens, flights 329 and 337 from Athens-Larnaca-Athens, flights 115 and 117 from Athens-Tirana-Athens, flights 506 and 510 from Athens-Iraklio-Athens, flights 514 and 518 from Athens-Iraklio-Athens and flights 570 and 572 from Athens-Mytilene-Athens.

OA announced that it would be able to carry out all 110 flights scheduled to depart from Athens airport on Friday.

[05] Weather Forecast: Cloud, showers on Friday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country with scattered cloud over the eastern mainland and northern Crete. Winds variable moderate. Temperatures to drop slightly, with a minimum of 08C and maximum of 16C in Athens; and in Thessaloniki, 05C to 13C.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates: Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.217

Pound sterling 0.706

Danish kroner 7.501

Swedish kroner 9.034

Japanese yen 131.7

Swiss franc 1.570

Norwegian kroner 8.155

Cyprus pound 0.588

Canadian dollar 1.591

Australian dollar 1.655

[07] Greek stocks end Thursday's session mixed to lower

Greek stocks ended Thursday's session slightly lower in the Athens Stock Exchange with sellers gaining the upper hand in the last hour of trading.

Traders said that investment transfered money from blue chip to smaller capitalisation stocks.

The general index fell 0.15 percent to end at 2,194.42 points, with turnover a heavy 224.8 million euros.

The Construction, Investment and Wholesale sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.37 percent, 1.14 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively), while the Insurance, Telecommunications and IT sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (0.99 percent, 0.95 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell by 0.51 percent, while the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.35 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 1.23 percent higher.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 184 to 118 with another 58 issues unchanged.

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