Immediately after he arrives he will have discussions with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, and will subsequently meet with Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou. Tonight, Mr. Papandreou will hold dinner in his honor.

Tomorrow morning, the Prime Minister of Bosnia, is expected to meet with the Minister of Development, Akis Tsohatzopoulos, while in the afternoon he will meet with the President of the Parliament, Apostolos Kaklamanis. Earlier he will speak at Athens Uni versity, and later in the, day he will meet with Greek businessmen. Before his departure, the Prime Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina will attend a dinner held for him by the US Ambassador to Athens, at the Ambassador's residence.

Mrs. Ioannidou represented the Athens Stock Exchange in Tokyo, as a member of the Greek delegation accompanying Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, during his official visit to Japan.

The Executive Vice President of the ASE met with the managing consultant of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), A. Nishihara, and other high ranking TSE staff members, as well as with the leaderships of the Association of Japanese Stockbrokers, Institutional

Investors, Investment Consultants and Bank Associations. She also had contacts with the representatives of other bodies of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, the Japanese Nasdaq, etc.

During the meetings, Mrs. Lito Ioannidou presented the Greek stock market, its institutional framework, its basic dimensions, its prospects and actions of the Stock market in response to new international challenges. Mentioned was also made to developmen ts taking place in European stock markets in the framework of the unified European market.

countries.

On the Greek side, participants are the Foreign Ministry General Director of International Political Affairs Anastasios Skopelitis and Emeritus Professor of International Law at Athens University Argyris Fatouros, while the Turkish side will be represent ed by the Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Ukiur Ziyal and legal consultant to the Ministry, Denis Bulukbashi.

The instructions given by both Foreign Ministers, Giorgos Papandreou and Ishmael Cem, who agreed on the exploratory meetings during a meeting in New York and reaffirmed them in Istanbul, are that attempts should be made to find points of convergence in t he Greek-Turkish dialogue, which will initially focus on organizing issues.

Greece, according to its standing position, stated that this dialogue is connected to the only legal difference between Greece and Turkey, is the setting of borders of the Aegean continental reef.

Specifically, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos called for an increase of 25% in the funding of the program in question compared to 17.5% suggested by the European Commission.

The United States invest very large sums in the specific sector and in the recent meeting Mr. Tsochatzopoulos had with US Energy Secretary Mr. Abrahams an agreement was reached to establish a joint Greek-US working group to fund the hydrogen technology i n the Greek islands.

According to government spokesman Christos Protopapas, the signing of a cooperation memorandum by the two Foreign Ministries is likely, while an agreement for the mutual protection and promotion of investments is also expected.

Of the stocks trading today, just 25 recorded gains and 319 had losses, while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.

Specifically, the overall value of imports-arrivals, excluding petrol products, showed a decline of 11.3% namely, US$2.120,7 million compared to the same period in the year 2000.

The proposal to be discussed at the Summit Meeting in Barcelona foresees the:

promotion of a truce

simultaneous reinitiating of peacemaking procedures

utilization of the recent French proposal, for possible Palestinian elections, which could isolate extremist elements and strengthen Arafat

utilization of new peace movements formed in Israel and financial exchange with those groups of the Israeli population who may be hurt in some way by the agreements

promotion of Arabic consent

"We supported the proposals of Saudi Arabia, which mentioned recognizing Israel, but at the same time withdrawing troops from occupied areas. The need for General Zini, coming from the US, to pressure both sides towards a truce, as well as for Mr. Arafat

to be free to move without limitations, are the first necessary steps", stressed Mr. Papandreou.

At the General Affairs Council it was agreed upon that the only solution is the peaceful coexistence of Israelis and Palestinians, with mutual ensuring of security.

Mr. Papandreou also informed his counterparts, that Prime Minister Simitis will present the framework of the basic principles and positions for the resolving of the Euroarmy issue, to EU state leaders and governments, at the Summit Meeting in Barcelona.

Yesterday he announced the wish of Prime Minister Simitis' to hasten the opening of three new border passes to Bulgaria through the Prefectures of Drama, Xanthi and Rodopi. He visited the construction site of one of the three new passes, which will conne ct Gotche Delchef with Exochi, Drama, and will give Bulgarian citizens a passageway to the Kavala harbor. He also saw the site of the new bridge at the border crossing station in Promachonas, Serres, only the Greek half of which is ready. He was also info rmed of the situation at the customs office. Since visas were no longer necessary for Bulgarian citizens entering Greece, traffic through the specific station has increased by 300,000. 11% of those having passed did not return within the deadline.

The Minister of Macedonia-Thrace stated that Greece is helping with Bulgria's accession to the European Union and NATO. During his visit to the Goche Delchef border station, he underlined: "My presence here shows Greece's desire to coordinate the steps o f Greece and Bulgaria, so that the works of the three border stations can be hastened. I could say that there are slight delays as far as the project is concerned as a whole, but I am not here to lay the blame. I have come to show the willingness of both governments, because such discussions were made both by the Greek and the Bulgarian Prime Minister, for these works to be completed quickly. We do not want roads leading nowhere. The project is joint and coordination is very important. I wish to observe t he progress of the three border stations very closely. The goal of our three border passes. Our goal is to create three more roads for friendship, cooperation and communication between the two countries".

As it was underlined by Greek Euro-deputy Kostis Hatzidakis, elected with the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, the liberalization of postal services will not affect negatively the services offered in the problematic regions of Europe n amely, island, mountainous and remote regions.

For the directive to be in effect, a decision must be made jointly by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers.

The meeting, like the previous ones, will take place in the Nicosia Airport UN controlled region in the presence of UN general secretary special adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto.

The helicopter with a three-member crew on board crashed during a routine flight. It was based on USS Hayler and two US fleet ships are searching the area to locate any survivors.

Mr. Paschalidis invited the Bulgarian Prime Minister to attend the conference on the threats in the Balkans organized by the Ministries of Macedonia-Thrace and Defense to take place in Thessaloniki on May 22. During that time, the Bulgarian Prime Ministe r will be in Greece for the Balkan Forum organized by the Association of Industries in Northern Greece, while on May 11 he will visit the monastic community of Mount Athos.

The Greek government minister expressed Greece's support to the efforts made by Bulgaria to become a member of the EU and NATO.

Undersecretary of Regional Development, Hassan Hassan, head of the Bulgarian delegation for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, expressed the belief that the pipeline issue will be resolved soon. A final solution is expected to be reached on the iss ue during Greek Minister of Development Akis Tsochatzopoulos' visit to Sofia on March 19.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Minister of Sports suggested that Bulgarian athletic centers must be used for the practice of athletes in view of the 2004 Olympiad and proposed that funds from the reconstruction program should be used to construct athletic cent ers.

Greek Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrisochoidis will visit Sofia on March 22 and among the issues to be discussed will be the way inter-border crime could be combated.

Mr. Paschalidis also met with government deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Konstantin Paskalev. They agreed to establish a joint Greek-Bulgarian Committee of Specialists to watch the course of the project concern ing the opening of three new border crossings in the prefectures of Dramas, Rodopi and Xanthi.

He was born on October 28, 1932 and studied Economics and Law in London specializing in Comparative Law. He was married and had two children.

In 1952, he founded the Cypriot Students Association in Britain and became its president. In February of that year, he was appointed Archbishop Makarios secretary.

After Cyprus' independence was declared he was appointed Justice Minister (1960) and afterwards he became Foreign Minister. In 1964 he signed an agreement in Moscow on the soviet military assistance to Cyprus.

After the coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974), he undertook international diplomatic missions in Greece, London, and New York for the solution of the Cyprus issue.

In 1976, he founded the Democratic Party and won the elections, while he was elected Parliament President. After the death of Makarios he was unanimously elected President of the Republic until the end of his term (1977). In 1978 he was elected President

for a five-year term and in 1983 he was reelected.

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