Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM marks Global Road Safety Week: Road safety education begins at early age

[02] Bakoyannis at NATO FMs meeting in Oslo

[01] PM marks Global Road Safety Week: Road safety education begins at early age

"We are beginning this effort with the children, in a systematic and organised way. All the primary school children will visit the Traffic Circulation Education Parks at regular intervals, and all the pupils will have contemporary books at their disposal for such learning," he said, adding that it was necessary for the citizens, political forces and social agencies to "work together to achieve that goal of road safety, from within a new mentality of social conduct and a new perception on road safety".

Liapis, in turn, said that the prime minister's presence at the Park was in the context of the ministry's more general effort to render road safety a major issue on the political agenda, aimed at reducing accidents on the road.

He said the ministry, in a coordinated effort, was distributing printed material to primary and secondary school pupils aimed at creating a new perception on road safety education among youths by familiarising them with the traffic rules and signs "since everything begins at that age".

"Children often function better than parents, and with the assistance of the everyday citizens, the prevailing condition will change progressively and we will succed in alleviating the sad privilege of one of the top places in road accidents that Greece holds among the EU member states," Liapis said.

During the visit, Karamanlis was briefed on the operation of the road safety theme park and the response by the public by Liapis and Ilioupolis mayor Y. Anagnostou, the park's educator A. Sinis, and visiting schoolchildren, who told the premier that the road safety training course at the park was one of their favourite lessons. Karamanlis presented the children with 'diplomas' for completing the 'lesson'.

The event marks the first UN Global Road Safety Week, designated for the week of April 23-29, 2007, which is dedicated to youths aged 15-25 and aims at their early familiarisation through school learning.

The Ilioupolis Traffic Circulation Safety Park is one of 85 such road safety theme parks in operation throughout Greece, while another 50 are slated to open soon, budgeted at 20 million euros.

Road safety learning books, with pictures, have been published for pupils and educators alike.

The Parks are open all day, with schools visiting the facilities during the morning (school) hours, while parents are able to take their children individually in the afternoons. During these visits, the children learn the traffic circulation and safety rules as well as recognising the various traffic signs, and are able to put this knowledge into practice while "driving" electrically-powered mini-cars and bicycles provided by the Park.

[02] Bakoyannis at NATO FMs meeting in Oslo

The discussions are focused on anti-missile defence, Afghanistan, Kosovo and NATOâs enlargement.

The informal nature of the meeting, which started in the afternoon with an open agenda and without the commitment for official conclusions, gives an opportunity for discussion on a broad spectrum of issues and for interesting contacts to be held on the sidelines of the conference.

Thursdayâs talks mainly centred on the installation of an anti-missile defence shield (receptors) in Poland and the Czech Republic, which is being promoted by the American side and is opposed by Russia. The centre of attention is turned to the presence in Oslo of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and of her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

An informal session of the NATO-Russia Council was due to take place late Thursday. Speaking to her NATO counterparts, Bakoyannis said that a review of the 10 years of established cooperation between NATO and Russia was "positive", adding that steps forward have been made, while even the difficult problems were on the negotiations table.

Referring to the NATO-Russia Council, Bakoyannis said that NATO and Russia faced common problems and must act collectively to confront them.

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