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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-09-27
CONTENTS
[01] President attends events for Tripoli's liberation from Ottoman rule
[02] Apostolos Tzitzikostas says he will run for ND leadership
[03] Foreign Minister Kotzias kicks off round of bilateral meetings in NY
[04] Stathakis unveils plans for borrowers' 'safety net' and 'credit
rating service'
[01] President attends events for Tripoli's liberation from Ottoman rule
ANA-MPA -- President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on
Sunday attended events held in Tripoli, Peloponnese marking the 194th
anniversary since the city was liberated from Ottoman rule, in a battle
known as the 'Fall of Tripolitsa'.
"We are bound and inspired by the peerless example of Theodoros
Kolokotronis and his fighters at the Fall of Tripolitsa," Pavlopoulos
said after watching a major parade military and civilian parade held in
the city. "We now pay homage to all those that conceived and executed
the major stratagem of the siege of Tripolitsa, which was without
doubt one of the peak moments of the nation's uprising of 1821. We pay,
especially, the honour due to the head of the stratagem ... nation's
General, Theodoros Kolokotronis.
[02] Apostolos Tzitzikostas says he will run for ND leadership
ANA-MPA -- The head of the Central Macedonia Region authority Apostolos
Tzitzikostas on Sunday announced his intention to run for the leadership
of the main opposition New Democracy party.
In a post on his Facebook account, Tzitzikostas announced that he would
be a candidate and transform ND in to a party for all forces, which
would make a real break with the past and clash with populism.
[03] Foreign Minister Kotzias kicks off round of bilateral meetings in NY
ANA-MPA -- Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has scheduled a series
of bilateral meetings in New York on Sunday, on the sidelines of
his participation in the Ministerial Week of the 70th UN General
Assembly. They include his counterparts from Georgia, Giorgi
Kvirikashvili; Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov; Iraq, Dr. Ibrahim
Al-Jaafari; and San Marino, Pasquale Valentini.
Meeting Al-Jaafari, they discussed the latest international and regional
developments, emphasizing issues of bilateral cooperation and underscoring
the need for the economic, technical, military and cultural cooperation
between the two countries to be promoted even further. Towards the
realization of this goal, it was agreed that an exchange of visits of
the Political Directors of the two ministries be arranged soon, so that
they can draw up a bilateral action and strategic cooperation plan.
His meeting with Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Georgia
Giorgi Kvirikashvili focused on bilateral cooperation issues and matters
of international and regional interest, including the refugee and
migration crisis and the resurgence of tension in the South Caucasus
region. Particular emphasis was put on matters concerning Georgia's
cooperation with the European Union.
Kotzias will later attend the Global Leaders Meeting on Gender Equality
and Woman Empowerment: A Commitment to Action, which is being chaired
by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Finally, he will attend the closing plenary meeting of the Summit on the
post-2015 Development Agenda, as well as the 10th annual Ministerial
Dinner on the Middle East, which is being hosted by the International
Peace Institute.
[04] Stathakis unveils plans for borrowers' 'safety net' and 'credit
rating service'
ANA-MPA -- Laws creating a permanent "social security safety net"
to support vulnerable bank debtors will be prepared by next November,
Economy, Development and Tourism Minister George Stathakis said in an
interview with the Sunday edition of the newspaper "Ethnos".
Outlining the main features of this safety net, he said it would
include local "information centres on debt" that will be run by all
the agencies involved and offer borrowers free advice concerning
their rights and obligations - and also their options - when it came
to handling their debts. The same centres will provide comprehensive
data on non-performing loans, creating a data bank for each region,
while the labour ministry was setting up a legal framework for a social
protection network, the minister explained. Stathakis also referred to
plans for a state-run Credit and Wealth Service that will have complete
information on the assets of each borrower - currently only available
to courts. He said this will be an important and objective tool for
determining a borrower's ability to pay off loans, while at the same time
protecting personal privacy and placing the loan onto a evaluation scale.
"Put simply, the borrower that wants to reschedule a loan or renegotiate
a new one can turn to the Credit and Weath Service, which will rate his
credit ability. With this credit rating, he or she will then apply to
the bank, which will not be able to dispute the borrower's ability,"
he said. On the lifting of capital controls, Stathakis linked this
to the recapitalisation of the banks, noting that this was currently
expected to take place by the end of the year.
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