Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-09-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] Bakoyannis at Avignon meeting

[02] Finmin sees 'resistance' to crisis

[03] PM visits ANA-MPA pavilion at TIF

[01] Bakoyannis at Avignon meeting

"Alot of ideas were put on the table. The essence, however, is just this: that we all support President Sarkozy and the next meeting that he will have in Moscow. We have the decisions that were taken by the European Council, which say that six points of the Sarkozy proposals which both sides have committed themselves to must be carried out and implemented," she said.

Clarifying her statements further, she stressed that this meant the withdrawal of both Georgian and Russian forces, a return to the previous situation, and from then on the start of in-depth talks between the two sides at an international conference.

"We hope that the meeting that President Sarkozy will have on Monday will be substantive," she added.

Replying to questions regarding the prevailing attitudes toward relations between the European Union and the United States, Bakoyannis said these should remain good:

"It is a shared view that what we need most is more Europe but with extremely good relations with the U.S. In other words, that more Europe does not detract from the U.S but instead strengthens relations on both sides," she said.

Questioned about the presence of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki at the meeting as a guest, Bakoyannis said that she had greeted him but that they had not spoken.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph of Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis

[02] Finmin sees 'resistance' to crisis

Speaking to reporters, during his visit to the Economy ministry's pavillion in the 73rd Thessaloniki International Fair, Alogoskoufis expressed his confidence that an international crisis was affecting Greece more lightly in terms of growth and employment, but not with respect to the inflation rate. The Greek minister reiterated the government's determination to complete its reform program.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph of Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis

[03] PM visits ANA-MPA pavilion at TIF

During his tour of TIF, the prime minister stopped at the pavilion of the ANA-MPA, where the ANA-MPA General Director George Tambakopoulos showed him the agency's website on the Internet, the news programmes broadcast by the agency on the Internet and a small broadcasting studio. The premier had the opportunity to see new cutting edge services now offered by the ANA-MPA, like the agency's new Internet webcasts, which are the first in Greece.

Other visitors to the agency's pavilion included Minister of State and government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos, alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, the head of the prime minister's political office Costas Staikouras, the head of the prime minister's office Giannis Angelou and the head of the premier's press office Giannis Andrianou.

Among ministers visiting the ANA-MPA stalls were Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis, Deputy Foreign Minister Theodoros Kassimis and Deputy Interior Minister Athanassios Nakos. Pavlopoulos, in particular, praised the work done by the national news agency and said the information it provided was "prompt, reliable and easy to use".

Visits to the pavilion were also carried out by New Democracy Central Committee Secretary Lefteris Zagoritis, the head of the Attica municipalities and communities union TEDKNA Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, Hellenic PostBank chairman Angelos Philippidis, Thessaloniki MP George Orfanos and the head of the Athens journalists' union ESHEA Panos Sobolos.

The Athens News Agency-Macedonia Press Agency (ANA-MPA) new services are displayed on high resolution LCD screens within the agency's pavilion at the 73rd Thessaloniki International Trade Fair (TIF).

Greece's national news agency is taking part in TIF with its own pavilion this year at the HELEXPO venue, opposite the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) tower, from where it will cover all the TIF events on a daily basis with its press and technical staff, broadcasting live on its Internet hub the most significant events of the day, such as the inauguration ceremony, the prime minister's address, and the addresses of the main opposition leader and other opposition party leaders.

It will also cover the planned events to be held in the framework of the TIF, while it will host political, economic and business officials at a studio it has set up at the TIF for interviews that will be broadcast live on the Internet.

Caption: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis (R) was received by the ANA-MPA General Director George Tambakopoulos (L) at the national news agency's pavilion at TIF on Saturday.

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