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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-07-26Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Finance ministry rejects allegations that prolonged negotiations burdened the country's public debtGreek Finance ministry sources on Tuesday rejected main opposition party allegations that a prolonged negotiations process with creditors further burdened the country's public debt. "For those alleging that the real economy was hurt by the negotiations, we encourage them to look at the statistics in unemployment which fell to 24.9 pct in the first quarter of 2016, from 27.3 pct in the same period in 2014," the sources said.The sources noted that the cost of 86 billion euros of the bailout loan agreed with the creditors in August 2015 was distributed as follows: -54 billion euros will be used for the refinancing of existing debt -25 billion euros were earmarked for the recapitalization of banks, of which only 5.0 billion were finally used -7.0 billion euros will be used to repay the state's overdue debt to the private sector. "The Greek public debt was 324 billion euros in December 31, 2014 and eased to 321 billion a year later," the sources said. [02] 101 migrants and refugees rescued on TuesdayA boat with 40 migrants and refugees were rescued off cape Korakas, northeastern Lesvos on Tuesday. According to port authorities, the refugees and migrants will be sent to Mytilene port and afterwards to Moria hotspot.Meanwhile, 61 refugees and migrants were rescued early Tuesday in the sea region of Skanadari off the coasts of Kos. Two men of foreign nationality aged 28 and 37 were arrested alleged to be the human traffickers. [03] Tianjin-Piraeus ports discuss prospect of closer cooperationA six-member business delegation from Tianjin visited the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Piraeus to discuss ways of boosting cooperation between the two ports and to strengthen bilateral trade.Tianjin and its port is one of the most significant economic zones in China and one of the pilot free trade zones in China (the zone promotes a free trade agreement with South Korea focusing on industry, aviation and shipbuilding). Vasilis Korkidis, president of the Chamber, in his speech referred to the two issues preoccupying the business community: accessing a certification agency in China and whether an agreement with Cosco links the ports of Piraeus and Tianjin. Zhang Aiguo, general manager of Commerce Commission of Tianjin, said the city's port operates as an export center of goods manufactured in northern China and it is the main import center for iron ore, oil products, coal, wheat and cars. The port is ranked 10th, globally, in container traffic. Currently, 20,000 companies operate in the free trade zone, Chinese or international. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |