Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-09-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] President Pavlopoulos talks of risks to representative democracy in forum speech

[02] Migration, EU's external borders the focus of Bratislava summit, says official

[03] Hetionian Gate to open three days a week to public

[04] Greek tourism, wine and olive oil attractive to Chinese consumers, Alibaba official says

[05] UNESCO names Athens World Book Capital for 2018

[01] President Pavlopoulos talks of risks to representative democracy in forum speech

Pavlopoulos focused on today's challenges facing Democracy, saying that anything that undermines it, eventually undermines European and Western culture in general and noted that representative democracy is a "precious yet fragile good".

"The foregoing evince that representative democracy is an invaluable and yet fragile good. Therefore we are under obligation to protect it continually against its 'enemies'. Failure to do so risks Democracy itself and by extension, European and Western culture in general," he said.

Pavlopoulos said nobody doubts that representative democracy is in jeopardy today, not just in underdeveloped countries, but also in very developed ones. Describing the dangers, Pavlopoulos named "government despotism", that is, the arbitrary or abusive imposition of the executive power over the other two, the major obstacles encountered by a person when attempting to defend his rights through the judiciary, the no-barriers intervention of the markets and the ratings agencies in the sovereignty of states and the decadent path of the welfare state.

He also stated that representative democracy prevails over direct democracy, mainly because opposition and respect for the right of the minority are ultimately unthinkable in the context of the latter. "There is little doubt that representative democracy may be beneficially enhanced with direct democracy institutions such as the legislative referendum and the referendum on crucial political, social and economic issues," he noted.

[02] Migration, EU's external borders the focus of Bratislava summit, says official

The meeting's main aim will be to discuss the negotiation process with the United Kingdom but also the future of the 27 member-states.

"The aim is for stability and hope to return and regain confidence. Not only between the institutions and the governments but also the citizens' confidence towards the EU," he said, adding that it is an opportunity for leaders to show they have "received the message" about what European citizens are afraid of.

[03] Hetionian Gate to open three days a week to public

The visitors will be able to observe the course of the maintenance and upgrading works of the largest archaeological site of Pireaus coast which is located on the port opposite of Gate E2.

Important remnants of the ancient fortification of Piraeus port from early building stage dated back to Themistocles until the Macedonian domination in the Hellenistic era can be observed on the finds.

[04] Greek tourism, wine and olive oil attractive to Chinese consumers, Alibaba official says

Addressing an event organized by the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, Cipriani said that tourism was a sector with significant growth prospects, wile products with comparative advantages such as wine and olive oil could also have a significant presence in the e-platform. He added that middle class Chinese consumers were very interested for international brands and particularly European products and services.

He noted there was a dynamic consumer category in China, belonging in the middle class, young in age and familiar with e-commerce and Internet, interested to travel to Greek islands and to buy Greek products.

Alibaba's platform includes hundreds of millions of products in 40 different main categories. Buyers of these products are located in more than 190 countries and regions, exchanging 100,000 messages on a daily basis.

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas, addressing the event, said the Foreign ministry was examining the possibility of Greek commercial delegations to international trade fairs electronically. He noted that the ministry was searching for the right solutions from IT specialists and was expected to make announcements soon, and said that the calendar of commercial delegations for 2017 will be released soon.

Ioannis Hatzitheodosiou, president of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, said the event surpassed 500 participations, a proof of the interest among business world for export actions and e-commerce platforms.

He said that exports were an one-way road in this difficult environment prevailing in the Greek economy.

Christos Staikos, president of Enterprise Greece said the joining forces was a significant factor to lead the country out of the crisis.

[05] UNESCO names Athens World Book Capital for 2018

The city of Athens was chosen for the quality of its activities, supported by the entire book industry. The proposed programme includes meetings with writers, translators and illustrators, concerts, thematic exhibitions, poetry readings and workshops for publishing professionals. The aim of the programme is to make books accessible to the city's entire population, including migrants and refugees. Members of the Advisory Committee also praised Athens' cultural infrastructure and its expertise in organizing international events.

Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital undertake to promote books and reading and to organize activities over the year which starts with the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day (23 April).

The Advisory Committee brings together representatives of UNESCO, the International Publishers Associations (IPA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). It recently met in Paris, at UNESCO's Headquarters, to examine a record number of candidacies for the title of World Book Capital.

Athens is the 18th city to become World Book Capital. It was preceded by Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016) and Conakry (2017).

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