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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-05-13
BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY
Thessaloniki, May 13, 1998
TITLES
[01] ECONOMY MINISTER TO CHAIR MEETING ON PRIVATIZATION
[02] US SECRETARY OF STATE COMMENTS ON CYPRUS ISSUE
[03] ARMED CLASHES REPORTED IN PRISHTINA
[04] ALBANIAN LEADER RUGOVA TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT
MILOSEVIC
[05] SE EUROPEAN MP MEETING BEGINS IN THESSALONIKI
TOMORROW
[06] EU SUPPORTS FOUNDING OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
[07] SOUTHERN CAUCASUS: EC OKs MECU9.6 IN HUMANITARIAN
AID
[08] NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE OPENS BRANCH IN BUCHAREST
[09] GREEK EU COMMISSIONER OPENS ENERGY CONFERENCE
NEWS IN DETAIL
[01] ECONOMY MINISTER TO CHAIR MEETING ON PRIVATIZATION
Athens, May 13 (MPA)
National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos
Papantoniou is to chair a ministerial meeting on the
state’s privatization process today.
Until the end of the week, the Bank of Greece and the
government are to determine the policy they will adopt on
matters concerning labor, insurance and privatization of
the state-owned enterprises.
Moreover, today’s meeting will finalize the sale,
through the stock market, of a fourth of the Greek
Petroleum’s shares, 75% of the country’s duty free shops
and an additional 15% of the state telecommunication
organization’s (OTE) shares.
[02] US SECRETARY OF STATE COMMENTS ON CYPRUS ISSUE
Washington, May 13 (MPA)
US Secretary of State Madleine Albright has stated that
the United States support and are promoting a solution
for the Cyprus issue which is based on a bi-zonal, bi-
communal federation.
Ms. Albright also added that this is the best approach in
the effort to resolve the lengthy issue.
Moreover, the Secretary of State stated that in order for
progress to be achieved on the Cyprus issue “there has to
be some type of recognition of the pseudo-state as an
entity.
[03] ARMED CLASHES REPORTED IN PRISHTINA
Prishtina May 13(MPA)
New episodes occurred in Prishtina yesterday,
resulting in the death of three persons, one Serb
policeman and two Albanian civilians.
Efforts exerted by the Us presidential envoy Richard
Holbrooke to resolve the Kossovo crisis have borne no
fruit. Today, Mr.Holbrooke is expected to meet again
with Serb President Slobodan Milosevic.
[04] ALBANIAN LEADER RUGOVA TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT
MILOSEVIC
Prishtina, May 13 (MPA)
The leader of Kossovo’s Albanian community Ibrahim
Rugova is to meet with the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia’s Serb president Slobodan Milosevic in
Prishtina in the near future, according to Richard
Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard, special envoys of the U.S.
President Bill Clinton and
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Mr. Holbrooke stated that this meeting constitutes the
achievement of a small step towards easing the Kossovo
crisis, nevertheless he added that the differences
between the two sides are still vast.
[05] SE EUROPEAN MP MEETING BEGINS IN THESSALONIKI
TOMORROW
Thessaloniki, May 13 (MPA)
Parliamentarians from countries in southeast Europe are
to meet in Thessaloniki tomorrow where they will discuss
the developing cooperation between parliaments in the
region on political, economic, defense and cultural
issues.
The three-day meeting is being organized by the Council
of Europe's International Institute for Democracy.
Thirty-five deputies from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Croatia, Federal Yugoslavia, FYROM, Romania, Slovenia and
Turkey are expected to attend.
[06] EU SUPPORTS FOUNDING OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Brussels, May 13 (MPA)
The European Commission will support the 1998
International Campaign for the establishment of an
International Criminal Court (ICC) with an ECU 390, 000
grant.
This money will be awarded to the non-governmental
organization "No Peace without Justice", which has been
fighting for the adoption of the international treaty on
the ICC by the United Nations (UN) Member States.
"Societies shattered by the nightmare of war can not
resume normality unless the guilty are brought to
justice. We have seen this in Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and
in other places", said Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans
van den Broek.
"The European Union therefore strongly supports the UN's
efforts to set up a permanent Criminal Court". Campaign
activities will include conferences, advocacy and
provision of infrastructure for Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) participation during the Rome ICC
Treaty Conference in June/July 1998. The Commission will
also support the World Federalist
Movement with ECU 525,000 for a project that will ensure
effective participation of NGOs from developing countries
in the Rome Conference. An additional sum of ECU 238,330
will be granted to help the work of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with a
specialized library, a technical support system and a
study place for ICTY staff.
[07] SOUTHERN CAUCASUS: EC OKs MECU9.6 IN HUMANITARIAN
AID
Brussels, May 13 (MPA)
The European Commission has cleared ECU 9.6 million for
humanitarian aid in the Southern Caucasus. The aid is
split as follows among the three countries covered :
Armenia ECU 1.6 million; Azerbaijan ECU 4.1 million;
Georgia ECU 3.96 million.
The aid, managed by the European Community Humanitarian
Office (ECHO), will enable non-governmental organizations
to carry out a coordinated program over the next 12
months. This ECHO package has been mounted in response to
a United Nations appeal on behalf of the region, and is
intended to complement resources made available by other
Commission services, and bilateral aid from Member
States, as well as funding from the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund.
[08] NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE OPENS BRANCH IN BUCHAREST
Bucharest, May 13 (MPA)
The National Bank of Greece is to officially inaugurate
the operation its branch in Bucharest tomorrow, in a
ceremony attended the bank’s governor Theodoros Karatzas.
Mr. Karatzas recently stated that consolidating National
Bank's presence in the Balkans was one of his prime
targets.
The state-owned bank plans to become an international
force in the region, acting as an intermediary between
global investors and Balkan markets, beyond serving Greek
businesses, and plans to open an additional two branches
in Albania, and its first in Belgrade.
[09] GREEK EU COMMISSIONER OPENS ENERGY CONFERENCE
Athens, May 13 (MPA)
European Union Commissioner Christos Papoutsis
inaugurated the Euro-Mediterranean Energy Cooperation
conference, held in Athens yesterday.
In his address, Mr. Papoutsis stated that "the need for
the promotion of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in the
energy sector has led us to the creation of an action-
plan...which includes specific proposals for immediate
application..."
He further added that cooperation of Mediterranean
nations in the energy sector is vital for the future
development of the region in the "spirit and the letter"
of the Barcelona Agreements.
Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available
on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at
http://www.hri.org/MPA/
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