Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-03-01
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, March 1, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[Á] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE CAMPAIGNS TO EMPOWER GREEK WOMEN
[02] DETROP FOOD FAIR OPENS MARCH 2 IN THESSALONIKI
[03] RACIST MURDERER CONVICTED TO LIFE IN PRISON
[04] VLORE HOSTS MINISTERS' MEETING ON CRIME COMBAT
[05] GUARDS AT SCHOOL NOW A GREEK PHENOMENON, TOO
[06] STATE ALLAYS WORRY OVER FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE
[07] GREEK, TURKISH, BULGARIAN HERITAGE TALKS SOON
[08] GREEK MINISTER MEETS WITH DEAN OF BELGRADE U
[09] FIVE GREEK SHARES RANK AMONG EUROPE'S 300 BEST
[10] PROTEST RESOLUTION SIGNED BY 31 VLACH LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIALS ON THE US STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT
[11] THE BELGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER MET WITH HIS GREEK COUNTERPART
AND THE FOREIGN MINISTER
[12] THE LOSSES CONTINUE IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[13] THE PRESIDENTS OF GREECE AND ITALY ARE IN KEFALONIA
[14] BETTER PROSPECTS FOR THE GREEK INVESTMENTS IN ROMANIA
[15] THE 3RD DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL IN THESSALONIKI
[16] PAPAZOI MET WITH THE DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF CROATIA
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[17] WORLD POPULATION MAY RISE TO 10 BILLION BY 2050
[18] GREECE IS BEING THREATENED WITH AN AGING POPULATION
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] STATE CAMPAIGNS TO EMPOWER GREEK WOMEN
In light of the upcoming International Women's Day on March
8, the government is embarking on a national media campaign
entitled "No More Women on the Sidelines", aimed at empowering
women around the country and promoting gender equality.
According to the state's secretary-general for gender
equality, Efi Bekou, the initiative aims to reach out to the
thousands of women in this country who live on the margins of
society.
Intending to raise awareness about women's rights and promote
equal treatment of women, particularly in the workplace, the
campaign will target unemployed women, single mothers, migrants,
repatriated Greeks, members of cultural and religious minorities,
victims of violence and those who live in remote areas.
Television promotions, radio spots and print media
advertisements have been organized by the Research Center for
Gender Equality (KETHI).
Advocating zero-tolerance for abuse against women, KETHI has
branches in Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos and Iraklion.
According to the Center's data, a total of 1,782 women, many
of them migrants and refugees, sought advice and assistance from
KETHI between May and December last year.
[02] DETROP FOOD FAIR OPENS MARCH 2 IN THESSALONIKI
The 16th international DETROP foodstuffs, beverages,
machinery and equipment exhibition, organized by Helexpo, will be
inaugurated tomorrow by the Minister of Agriculture George
Anomeritis at Thessaloniki's exhibition center.
The biannual fair, whose theme this year will be the benefits
and quality of the Mediterranean diet, will showcase products from
498 Greek and 618 foreign exhibitors.
This year's participation is of a larger scale compared to
last year when 939 exhibitors took part, 37 percent of whom were
from abroad. Bulgaria, Italy and Poland are among the featured
countries, while direct foreign exhibitors are from seven
countries and the indirect from 27.
An International Wine Competition is also being held on
DETROP's sidelines, aiming to present the world's quality wines
and to further promote and expand the wine culture in the
Mediterranean region.
The competition is organized by the Ambelonas Vinters Union
and held under the auspices of Office International de la Vigne et
du Vin and several Greek wine agencies.
The judges committee will comprise Greek and foreign wine
experts, producers and journalists.
[03] RACIST MURDERER CONVICTED TO LIFE IN PRISON
In a majority vote ruling yesterday, an Athens court
convicted a 25-year-old suspect to two counts of life imprisonment
for killing two foreigners, who were unknown to him, and injuring
seven others during a shooting spree in downtown Athens, in 1999.
The court found Pantelis Kazakos guilty of two intentional
homicides and seven attempted homicides, although three members of
the seven-judge jury voted that the defendant had diminished
capacity. The court also deprived Kazakos of his civil rights for
life and fined him 300,000 drachmas.
A retrial will be taking place in a few months time and the
court will either have to uphold yesterday's verdict or decide
otherwise.
Kazakos was arrested in October 1999 after he reportedly ran
amok on the streets of central Athens, gunning down anyone
resembling a foreigner, especially dark-skinned ones. Two men were
killed while another seven were hospitalized, at least three with
severe injuries.
[04] VLORE HOSTS MINISTERS' MEETING ON CRIME COMBAT
The Public Order Ministers of Greece and Albania, along with
the Interior Ministers of Italy and Germany, are to meet in Vlore,
Albania, today in order to discuss the operation of a regional
center for the combat of criminal activity.
According to Albanian Minister of Public Order Ilir Gioni,
the meeting was initiated by Albania's Premier Ilir Meta seven
months ago.
Vlore has been proposed as the center's headquarters whose
aim will be to combat organized crime, drug trafficking and
illegal immigration.
[05] GUARDS AT SCHOOL NOW A GREEK PHENOMENON, TOO
Private guards have become a familiar sight outside Greek
schools, a service provided by the local authorities in 147
municipalities throughout the country under a program entitled
"Safeguarding 2000".
According to the Athens daily "To Vima", even though there
are about 3,000 city-provided school guards, the measure is deemed
insufficient as an increasing number of schools in the Attica
basin have sought assistance from private firms, a move funded
either by the municipality or the school's parents association.
[06] STATE ALLAYS WORRY OVER FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE
Greece's Ministry of Agriculture continues to allay the
public's mounting concern over food safety in light of the recent
foot and mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom and the t
draconian prevention measures taken subsequently by continental
Europe.
Agriculture Minister George Anomeritis stated that Greece is
no longer limiting examinations only to suspect livestock,
stressing that consumers are not at risk of contracting the
disease as systematic and thorough testing is now being conducted.
At the same time, British authorities have announced that
nine more outbreaks have been detected in England and Wales, while
dozens of animals have been slaughtered in Ireland as a preventive
measure.
France's Agriculture Ministry announced that it would
slaughter 30,000 sheep which had come in contact with other
animals imported from England as of February 1. Germany, too, is
conducting wide-ranging tests.
[07] GREEK, TURKISH, BULGARIAN HERITAGE TALKS SOON
The architectural and cultural heritage shared by Greece,
Turkey and Bulgaria is to be the focus of a tripartite scientific
meeting to be held this month in northern Greece's city of
Orestiada.
The meeting, to be held on March 10, will feature scientists
from the three countries, while a noteworthy detail is that the
Greeks will speak about the area's Muslim mosques and the Turks
will give an address on Byzantine history.
[08] GREEK MINISTER MEETS WITH DEAN OF BELGRADE U
Minister of Macedonia-Thrace George Paschalides met with the
dean of the University of Belgrade Maria Bogdanovic, during his
two-day visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as the head of
a Greek business delegation.
Among the items discussed during their talks was the
reactivation of an agreement drawn in 1996 between Belgrade
University and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Mr. Paschalides stressed that the reconstruction of
Yugoslavia may be premised on economic cooperation, but the
sectors of culture and education are equally if not more
significant in achieving cooperation between the two peoples.
[09] FIVE GREEK SHARES RANK AMONG EUROPE'S 300 BEST
Universal banking group ABN-AMRO has ranked five Greek
shares, namely National Bank, Alpha Bank, commercial Bank, the
Greek Telecommunications Organization (OTE) and mobile phone
service provider Panafon, among Europe's 300 best.
At the same time, analysts at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
are confident over the opportunities provided by the Greek market,
noting that its low rank on the MSCI global stock indices is not a
negative trait after all.
According to SSSB, the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) is merely
three percent behind the European index, as of the start of 2001,
in contrast to the continent's other small markets, i.e. Portugal,
Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and Norway, that surpassed the
mark during the same time period.
It also adds that ASE is faring better than other European
markets since the average price-per-earning for 2001 is estimated
to rank at 14, as opposed to the European mean of 22.4.
[10] PROTEST RESOLUTION SIGNED BY 31 VLACH LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIALS ON THE US STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT
The US State Department annual report on the human rights
situation in Greece and around the world for the year 2000 caused
the strong reaction of 31 Vlach-speaking mayors and village
council presidents in Greece.
They signed a protest resolution against the direct or
indirect characterization of the Vlach-speaking Greeks as an
ethnic, linguistic or other minority, stating that the Vlach-
speaking Greeks never requested to be recognized by the Greek
state as a minority, stressing that historically and culturally
they were and still are an integral part of Hellenism.
They also stress that the existence and the use of a second
language idiom, which is the result of the centuries long Greek-
Roman cultural heritage in the Greek mainland, does not constitute
a reason that could justify its characterization as a minority
language with the known political and other consequences it could
entail.
In their protest, the 31 Vlach-speaking local administration
officials state that they will react strongly to any intentional
misinformation campaign that falsifies the historical and current
facts concerning the collective ethnic identity of the Vlach-
speaking Greeks.
[11] THE BELGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER MET WITH HIS GREEK COUNTERPART
AND THE FOREIGN MINISTER
The Belgian minister of defense, who was on a visit to
Greece, met yesterday with his Greek counterpart Akis
Tsochatzopoulos and foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou.
Among the topics discussed during the Belgian minister's
visit, whose country will hold the EU rotating presidency in the
second half of the year, was the European Army.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos said that in the meeting it was stressed
that the EU army infrastructure must be completed before the end
of 2001 in order to be operationally ready by 2003.
The Belgian minister of defense also met with the Greek
foreign minister, who referred to the outcome of the latest NATO
Summit meeting. The two men discussed the issue of the creation of
a White Bible on the European defense.
[12] THE LOSSES CONTINUE IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The losses continued in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The
general index dropped to 0.59% at 3.110,59 points, while the
volume of transactions was small at 134.1 million Euro or 45.68
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 97 recorded gains and 239 had
losses, while the value of 35 stocks remained stable.
[13] THE PRESIDENTS OF GREECE AND ITALY ARE IN KEFALONIA
The events, on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the
massacre of 10.000 Italian soldiers by the German army in the
Ionian Sea island of Kefalonia in September 1943, opened today in
the presence of Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos and his
Italian counterpart Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Mr. Ciampi was welcome by his Greek counterpart at the
Airport of Argostoli in Kefalonia and the two presidents laid
wreaths in the memory of those killed.
[14] BETTER PROSPECTS FOR THE GREEK INVESTMENTS IN ROMANIA
The new Bucharest government seeks closer economic
cooperation between Romania and Greece and for this reason it
creates the appropriate conditions for new opportunities aimed at
increasing the number of Greek investments in Romania.
Romanian minister of press Vasile Dincu, a distinguished
university professor and one of the most important political
personalities in his country, revealed in an exclusive interview
with MPA that the Romanian government prepares a legal framework
for the better protection of Greek investments in Romania.
He also mentioned that the privatization of 17 large
businesses will start soon within the framework of the efforts
aimed at attracting foreign capital, while he pointed out that the
overwhelming majority of the Romanian people believe that there is
no risk for an armed conflict in the region.
However, he underlined that the war in Kosovo proved that the
cooperation of the Balkan states is necessary to avert the risk of
conflict in the region.
Finally, Mr. Dincu stated that when the governing Social
Democracy Party of Romania decided to found the ministry of press
was impressed by the Greek model and for this reason the first
contact he will have will be with his Greek counterpart Dimitris
Reppas.
[15] THE 3RD DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL IN THESSALONIKI
One hundred and one documentaries from all over the world
will attempt to open a window to history, social changes, cultural
evolution and human relations within the framework of
Thessaloniki's 3rd Documentary Festival that will take place on
March 5-11.
A Documentary Market and a Pitching Forum will be held within
the framework of the parallel events that will take place during
which, the Greek producers with their colleagues from the Balkans
and southern Europe will present their projects to representatives
of Greek and other European television stations.
[16] PAPAZOI MET WITH THE DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF CROATIA
Greek deputy foreign minister Ms. Elisavet Papazoi and
foreign ministry European affairs general secretary Elias
Plasovitis met in Athens yesterday with Croatia's European
integration minister Mr. Jacobcic and deputy foreign minister, Ms.
Kurelec.
In the meeting they discussed the improvement of bilateral
cooperation on European Union issues and specifically, the
progress made toward the adoption of the EU-Croatia stabilization
and association agreement that will be a significant step in the
effort for the incorporation of Croatia into the European Union
structures.
Ms. Papazoi, in statements she made after the meeting,
underlined Greece's stable support to Croatia's course toward the
EU, the will to strengthen cooperation by offering know-how on
European issues and the potential for regional cooperation and
development in the region.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[17] WORLD POPULATION MAY RISE TO 10 BILLION BY 2050
Global population could grow to between 7.8 billion and 10.9
billion people by the year 2050, according to the United Nations'
"World Population Prospects" report published by the
organization's Population Division.
As the report estimates, world population - which stood at a
little over six billion by mid-2000 - could be expected to rise to
9.3 billion by 2050; by 2025, the estimates are that population
rates will decline in the world's more developed region while
remaining positive throughout the developing world.
The report also noted the effects of HIV/AIDS, with sub-
Saharan Africa, which has been particularly hard hit, showing a
lower estimated life expectancy between 1995 and 2000 (48.6 years)
years than the region had 10 years ago (when life expectancy was a
whole year higher, at 49.6 years).
[18] GREECE IS BEING THREATENED WITH AN AGING POPULATION
Greece is among the countries threatened with an aging
population, according to a United Nations report on the
development of the world population in the next 50 years that was
given to publicity recently.
Specifically, the report mentions that in Greece, Germany,
Italy and Japan the ratio of the children to the elderly over the
age of 60 will be 1/1.5 by the year 2050.
At the same time, Greece is included among the top 19
countries in which at least 1/10 of the population will be over
the age of 80 by the year 2050.
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