Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-02-04

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] SIMITIS IN ROMANIA TOMORROW

[02] NO DANGER TO GREECE FROM QUAKE

[03] STEFANOPOULOS COMPLETES VISIT IN SYRIA

[04] NEW PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING

[05] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT STANDS BY THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN TURKEY

[06] THE GREEK INITIATIVE ON THE OLYMPIC TRUCE IS IN PROGRESS

[07] STEPHANOPOULOS RETURNS TO ATHENS

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[09] PAPANDREOU-CEM DISCUSSED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GREEK-TURKISH DIALOGUE

[10] THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GREEK-TURKISH DIALOGUE ON FEBRUARY 12

[11] MR. SIMITIS WILL MEET WITH THE ROMANIAN LEADERSHIP

[12] KARAMANLIS IN LONDON

[01] SIMITIS IN ROMANIA TOMORROW

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will visit Romania tomorrow and will have discussions for the promotion of bilateral relations, developments in the Balkans and their restructuring. It is the second stop of Mr. Simitis' Balkan tour after Sofia and shortly before noon, the Prime Minister will call a governmental meeting to prepare for the visit.

[02] NO DANGER TO GREECE FROM QUAKE

While stations throughout Turkey are recording dozens of aftershocks after yesterday's devastating 6 R earthquake in Afion, Turkey, seismologists in Greece are reassuring the public that it will in no way effect Greece.

According to the scientists, the epicenter of the quake that cost dozens of people their lives, is ver far from the Anatolia fault.

Vasilisis Papazahos, Seismology Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, supported that this earthquake is relatively small, and small earthquakes affect neighboring earthquakes. We are very far from the epicenter of that quake, and thus there is no evidence to suggest that it might affect Greece.

Also, seismologist at the Athens Geodynamic Institute Gerasimos Papadopoulos, pointed out that the possibility of this earthquake affecting Greece, is very small.

[03] STEFANOPOULOS COMPLETES VISIT IN SYRIA

President of the Republic Kostis Stefanopoulos, who is being accompanied by The Minister of Commercial Shipping, Giorgos Anomeritis, and the Deputy Foreign Minister, Andreas Loverdos, will complete his three day trip to Syria today.

Mr. Stefanopoulos met with members of the Greek Community in Damascus, who held a warm reception for him. He also met with the first Vice-President of Syria, Mr. Hadam, and the President of the Parliament and Prime Minister Mr. Miro, with whom he had a discussion on bilateral issues and on the situation in the Middle East.

[04] NEW PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING

The latest meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Greece, Ismail Cem and Giorgos Papandreou, took place last night in the margin of the World Financial Forum held in New York.

The meeting's topic were the research meetings to start taking place between high level diplomats, in order to determine whether the continental shelf issue and other issues, irrelevant to territorial differences, can be resolved.

Greek participation in these discussions will include the political director of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr. Skopelitis, who, along with his Turkish counterpart, will examine whether or not it is possible to draft of an agreement to refer the dispute to the Hague.

[05] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT STANDS BY THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN TURKEY

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas expressed the Greek government's support and solidarity toward the Turkish people, who suffer again the catastrophic consequences of an earthquake.

Mr. Protopapas stressed that the government is ready to offer humanitarian aid for the earthquake victims in Turkey.

[06] THE GREEK INITIATIVE ON THE OLYMPIC TRUCE IS IN PROGRESS

A special mission is in progress with the participation of all political parties in Greece for the promotion of the Olympic Truce idea in view of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and Athens.

Parliament deputies and government officials will convey the messages of President Kostis Stephanopoulos and Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou to their counterparts for the promotion of the specific idea.

Ambassador Zeppos will visit India and Pakistan, while within the week relevant letters will be brought to Israel and Palestine by Euro-deputy Anna Karamanou and general secretary for the Greeks Living Abroad Dimitris Dolis. Right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy parliament deputy Sofia Kalantzakou will visit Armenia and Azerbajdjan.

The goal is to brief authorities in those countries on Greece's initiative and to agree that the Olympic Truce idea will be respected during the Olympic Games.

[07] STEPHANOPOULOS RETURNS TO ATHENS

Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos returns to Athens this afternoon after a three-day visit to Syria.

Mr. Stephanopoulos visited Palmyra today and toured the archaeological sites in the region. The Greek President also visited the Palmyra Museum and stated that he was impressed with the tour.

Yesterday, Mr. Stephanopoulos visited the Greek community in Damascus and he was warmly received by its members. In his address, he pointed out that the Greeks living outside Greece many times are much warmer Greeks than those living in Greece.

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.26% at 2.588,98 points, while the volume of transactions was at 103 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 71 recorded gains and 128 had losses.

[09] PAPANDREOU-CEM DISCUSSED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GREEK-TURKISH DIALOGUE

The importance of the exploratory contacts between Greece and Turkey aimed at finding convergence points to help in the normalizing of the Greek-Turkish relations, was underlined by the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey, Giorgos Papandreou and Ismail Cem, who met in New York yesterday on the sidelines of the world economic forum.

The exploratory contacts will be held at Foreign Ministry political directors level, while the next Papandreou-Cem meeting will take place on February 12 and 13.

The two ministers also discussed the Cyprus issue and the effort of the two countries to jointly organize the 2008 European Football Cup. Mr. Papandreou and Mr. Cem also referred to the joint initiative undertaken by Greece and Turkey to back Bulgaria and Romania in their effort to become NATO members.

[10] THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GREEK-TURKISH DIALOGUE ON FEBRUARY 12

Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey, Giorgos Papandreou and Ismail Cem, will meet in Istanbul on February 12 to finalize the framework of the Greek-Turkish dialogue on the sidelines of the Islamic Conference with the EU Foreign Ministers.

Both Papandreou and Cem agreed in New York that the political directors of the two Foreign Ministries will meet to open the contacts on the Greek-Turkish dialogue convergence points. Also, the two Foreign Ministers agreed to hold a Greek, Turkish, Bulgarian and Romanian meeting on the sidelines of the Islamic Conference to discuss the prospects for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania into the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

[11] MR. SIMITIS WILL MEET WITH THE ROMANIAN LEADERSHIP

The promotion of bilateral political and economic relations will be discussed in the working visit of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis to Romania tomorrow.

The Prime Minister will have talks with President Ion Ilescu, Prime Minister Adrian Anastase and other Romanian officials on the developments in the Balkans and the wider region.

Also, they will discuss the EU-Romanian relations and the prospects for Romania's accession into the Euro-Atlantic institutions. Mr. Simitis will convey Greece's political will toward this direction. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Yiannitsis and Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Andreas Loverdos, who will have consultations with their counterparts.

[12] KARAMANLIS IN LONDON

President of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis, who has been in the UK since Saturday, is in London today. At noon he will meet with the chair of the Greek shipowners, and later he will meet with the leader of the Conservative Party, Ian Duncan Smith, and he will visit the room in which the British museums houses the Parthenon marbles. Tomorrow morning he will meet with New Democracy staff members in London and will then go to Edinburgh, where he will meet with the Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Malcolm Rifkin, and in the evening he will speak at a University event, on political developments in the Balkans.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article