Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 00-07-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papantoniou unveils "new entrepreneurship" plan

[02] Papoutsis announces measures for coast guard

[03] Ankara denies reports citing violation of military flight moratorium

[04] Press reports cite US-Turkey pact on nuclear energy partnership

[05] Israeli ambassador comments on Camp David summit

[06] UK parliamentarians condemn murder of military attache in Athens

[07] Apostolakis receives Lithuanian ambassador

[08] ND leader on Ikaria, Samos over the weekend

[09] Athens Stock Exchange president's resignation accepted

[10] Fitch upgrades Greece to 'A-' from 'BBB+'

[11] Greece, Ukraine initial shipping agreement

[12] Information companies stress need for easier market access

[13] Intracom acquires Hungarian Fornax

[14] Greek stocks rebound moderately, remain below 4,000

[15] WWF Hellas calls for overhaul of forest protection policy

[16] Papoutsis insists port will not close

[17] Athens 2004 torch relay to travel through Balkans, Italy, Cyprus

[18] Temperature to edge down on Friday

[19] Gov't spokesman says Cypriot political leaders are being briefed on proximity talks in Geneva

[20] UN special envoy meets Clerides, Denktash

[21] UK MP's table motion on Cyprus

[22] Greenpeace comments on Turkey's decision to cancel tender on nuclear power plant

[01] Papantoniou unveils "new entrepreneurship" plan

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

Presenting his plans during a press conference, Papantoniou said that the basic axes of the new strategy would be: promoting a new entrepreneurship culture based on flexibility, effective administration, and deregulating domestic markets in goods and services, particularly telecommunications.

"The government is pursuing simpler procedures to set up new businesses, creating a stable framework to exploit research, enhancing the skills of human resources and supporting financially new businesses," Papantoniou said.

He reminded that the government was taking measures to support new businesses with a new tax package, to be implemented in fall, which envisaged reducing tax factors of non-listed companies from 40 percent to 35 percent, a tax exemption of Internet access for private individuals, and incentives for company mergers.

He acknowledged a lack of investments in new business activities, but he expressed his optimism that the necessary climate was created to help Greece reach other EU member-states' levels in this particular field.

Papantoniou said that the Greek culture favored entrepreneurship and that the government would help in this direction.

He announced the creation of a "new economy development fund", called "TANEO", aiming to fund investments in new economy sectors, grant scholarships in information, biotechnology education and award innovative programs in new technology.

Papantoniou said revenues from privatization and the sale of licenses rights would fund the new fund. The government has already earmarked 10 billion drachmas this year for the fund and another 30 billion drachmas in 2001, with a target of a total 150 billion drachmas by the end of 2004.

TANEO will be obliged to publish an annual report on its activities.

[02] Papoutsis announces measures for coast guard

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

"We agreed on measures to strengthen the coast guard, improve training, set up a Coast Guard Academy and increase staff," said Merchant Marine Minister Christos Papoutsis said after a two-hour meeting with the Prime Minister, Costas Simitis.

He said the prime minister had congratulated the men of the coast guard who had carried out the special operation against the hijacker, Czech national Cr. Vezeli, who had taken a family of five Swiss tourists and the skipper of the sailing boat hostage in Tolo, Peloponnese. Vezeli was killed in the operation.

"The operation sent a clear message that Greece is a well-ruled country, offering security to its citizens and tourists alike," Papoutsis said.

[03] Ankara denies reports citing violation of military flight moratorium

ISTANBUL, 28/07/2000 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas)

Instead, spokesman Hussein Dirioz said the four Turkish fighter planes in question were merely "conducting routine training flights in the Aegean's international airspace and were flying without weaponry."

He also claimed that such training flights were not covered under the 1988 Vouliagmeni moratorium, which refers to confidence-building measures (CBMs) between the two neighbors.

Dirioz added, "Ankara wishes to remain calm and rational... These types of press reports create problems in the friendly climate that exists in relations between Greece and Turkey."

[04] Press reports cite US-Turkey pact on nuclear energy partnership

ISTANBUL, 28/07/2000 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas)

The agreement reportedly sets the foundations for a scientific partnership, the transfer of know-how and joint designs.

US ambassador to Ankara Mark Parris and the general director of Turkey's atomic energy foundation, Cengiz Yialtsin, signed the pact.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Tuesday announced that Ankara was indefinitely postponing its controversial plan to construct a nuclear power station on its SE Mediterranean coastline at Akkuyu, a few hundred miles from Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

[05] Israeli ambassador comments on Camp David summit

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

"Our perspective is that the Palestinians and Chairman Arafat did not rise, at least now, to the occasion," Israeli Ambassador Ran Curiel said during a press briefing.

The envoy also said he predicts very little movement in the Mideast peace process throughout August, adding that reflection appears to be the order for the day for both sides.

In commenting directly on one of the key differences forestalling a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, Curiel stressed:

"Jerusalem is the epicenter of our existence and identity. It was the capital of King David long before Camp David... there's no symmetry between the way Israelis view Jerusalem and the way Palestinians view it."

Curiel also expressed his surprise that the issue of Jerusalem was even discussed "to this extent," while he warned that any notion of three million Palestinian refugees returning to the West Bank would "spell the end of Israel... That (prospect) has long been ruled out of negotiations, but it is still used in (Palestinians') rhetoric."

US President Bill Clinton said this week that there was room for an "honorable compromise" without one side or the other appearing defeated at the negotiating table.

Both side pledged during the Camp David summit to avoid unilateral decisions and to interdict violence by extremists, with the latter point discussed on Thursday by Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh and senior Palestinian negotiator Tayeb Abdel-Rahim at a border crossing separating Israel and the Gaza Strip.

[06] UK parliamentarians condemn murder of military attache in Athens

LONDON, 28/07/2000 (ANA-L. Tsirigotakis)

The resolution condemned the terrorist act but at the same time it underlined the high level of cooperation between the governments and security authorities of both the countries.

[07] Apostolakis receives Lithuanian ambassador

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

Apostolakis reiterated that the political procedure for the Alliance's enlargement was to take into consideration the need to create conditions of stability in the broader region.

[08] ND leader on Ikaria, Samos over the weekend

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

On Ikaria, Karamanlis is expected to attend a concert by noted Greek composer Stavros Xarhakos, a Euro-MP with New Democracy.

[09] Athens Stock Exchange president's resignation accepted

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

According to sources, Kouniakis had submitted his resignation, for personal reasons, six months ago.

The same sources said Kouniakis is expected to be replaced by the current president of the Athens Derivates Exchange (ADEX), Panayiotis Alexakis.

[10] Fitch upgrades Greece to 'A-' from 'BBB+'

LONDON, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

As in other euro-area countries, the long-term local currency rating will equal the foreign currency rating, as the government will lose the ability to monetize its debt.

The rating action anticipates Greece entering EMU on 1 January 2001, which is virtually certain, and also reflects positive developments in the economy. In order to participate in the euro area, the macro-economic environment has been greatly improved through tight fiscal and monetary policies.

There has been a steep decline in inflation to levels of 2 per cent from 20 per cent in the early 1990s. This has been aided through a decline in unit labor costs and wage moderation.

The general government budget deficit was reduced to well below the Maastricht limit of 3 per cent to 1.6 per cent of GDP in 1999, with the government aiming at a small surplus by 2002.

General government debt has also declined, by 6.9 percentage points to 104.4 per cent of GDP in 1999, although the fall has been slower than desired due to various 'sock-flow' adjustment items influenced by continued support to public enterprises. Debt still remains the third highest in the EU and a constraint on the rating. Social security reforms to control future pension problems would also be positive.

[11] Greece, Ukraine initial shipping agreement

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

Under the terms of the pact, the two countries will cooperate on the basis of free and fair competition, the freedom of navigation, and avoidance of unilateral measures that could have an adverse impact on world maritime transport and trade.

Initialing the agreement for Greece was Merchant Marine Minister Christos Papoutsis and for Ukraine, Deputy Transport Minister Volodimir Sevriukov.

[12] Information companies stress need for easier market access

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

SEPBE's board particularly stressed the importance of the creation of a New Stock Exchange market to companies in the information sector in Northern Greece and for those, which pursue innovation or develop an export activity in the Balkans or the rest of Europe.

They said that Thessaloniki has developed into a technology products' export center and urged for the upgrading of Thessaloniki's Exchange Center role.

[13] Intracom acquires Hungarian Fornax

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

Fornax was founded in 1989. It is one of the most important companies in Hungary in the telecommunications, information, Internet and electronic applications sectors and has recently expanded its activities in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Croatia.

The move will help Intracom to strengthen its presence in Hungary and the wider central European market.

Fornax is the main supplier of telecommunications equipment to Matav, the Hungarian telecoms organization. Deutche Telekom has recently acquired a majority stake in Matav. Its turnover is expected to total 2.6 billion drachmas this year.

[14] Greek stocks rebound moderately, remain below 4,000

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

Dealers said the recovery was anticipated as the market seems to be locked in the 3,900-4,100 level range.

Turnover remained at the previous days' low levels, excluding two huge block trades, worth 290 billion drachmas, in Hellenic Telecoms and Hellenic Petroleum, transferred by Greece's Public Securities Company to foreign investors as part of a convertible bond loan deal.

The general index ended at 3,973.46 points, up 0.58 percent, but off the day's highs of 4,000. Turnover was 355.82 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.42 percent higher at 2,221.10 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 0.28 percent to 557.26 points.

Sector indices ended as follows: Banks: 7,552.83 +0.42% Leasing: 781.75 +2.34% Insurance: 2,485.95 +0.02% Investment: 1,627.93 +0.35% Construction: 2,131.45 +1.20% Industrials: 2,486.16 +1.08% Miscellaneous: 3,994.70 +1.15% Holding: 4,198.93 -0.88%

The parallel market index for smaller capitalization stocks ended 1.59 percent higher at 722.95 points.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 216 to 105 with another 21 issues unchanged.

Hellenic Telecoms, Hellenic Petroleum, Sex Form and Daios Plastics were the most heavily traded stocks.

Leading shares' closing prices (in Drs): National Bank: 14,500 Titan Cement (c): 13,200 Alpha Bank: 13,720 Hellenic Telecoms: 8,000 Commercial Bank: 15,700 Panafon: 4,300 Hellenic Petroleum: 3,730 Eurobank: 9,300 Attica Enterprises: 3,570 Intracom: 12,760 Lambrakis Press: 9,930 Minoan Lines: 3,535 Heracles Cement: 7,650 Hellenic Bottling: 5,280

Equity futures up, tracking Athens bourse: Equity futures traded on the Athens Derivatives Exchange finished higher on Thursday, in line with the indices on which they are based.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index closed 0.42 percent up, and the FTSE/ASE 40 ended 0.28 percent higher.

Turnover was 7.36 billion drachmas from 6.53 billion drachmas a day earlier.

A total of 802 contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 with turnover at 3.58 billion drachmas.

On the FTSE/ASE 40 index, 1,677 contracts changed hands on turnover of 3.78 billion drachmas.

Bond prices up in moderate trade: Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Thursday finished higher in moderate trade, fuelled by strong demand for 10-year paper.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 6.024 percent, the same as the previous session.

The Greek paper's yield spread over German bunds was 86 basis points from 85 basis points in the trading day before.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 84 billion drachmas from 62 billion drachmas a day earlier.

Buy orders accounted for the bulk of turnover.

Drachma down vs. euro, dollar: The drachma on Thursday fell against the euro and the US dollar in the domestic foreign exchange market.

At the central bank's daily fixing, the euro was set at 337.250 drachmas from 337.100 drachmas in the previous session.

Also at the fixing, the US dollar was set at 358.850 drachmas from 358.820 drachmas a day earlier.

[15] WWF Hellas calls for overhaul of forest protection policy

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

"It is necessary to examine the phenomenon of forest fires from a different angle and to draw up a national action plan for the protection of Greek forests, which would include fire prevention through the promotion of an active forestry policy, the mapping of forests and the setting up of a single forest protection agency," Aristotelis Papageorgiou, head of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Hellas' forest programs, told an international conference organized by WWF and the International Union for the Care of Nature (IUCN).

He said approximately 70,000 hectares of forest have been burned so far this year in Greece, in spite of WWF Hellas sending proposals to the prime minister and responsible ministers before the start of the season. These had gone unanswered, he added.

Participants warned of high-risk in areas such as Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, China, Mexico and the Mediterranean.

"The situation is particularly critical, as we expect another round of El Nino in the next 18 months," said David Hindslay, head of IUCN forest programs.

Fire in national park: For the second time in ten days, a fire on Thursday threatened the national park of Valia Calda on the Pindos mountain range, in the central Greek region of Grevena.

The fire, which broke out in the morning under undetermined circumstances, had assumed uncontrollable dimensions due to strong winds by the afternoon, burning thousands of hectares of pine forest.

The explosions of hitherto unknown, wartime ammunition depots hampered fire fighters.

[16] Papoutsis insists port will not close

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

"Citizens' freedom of movement is fully protected in Greece ... No matter how right the mayor of Rafina may think he is, he definitely does not have the right to prevent hundreds of thousands of citizens from going to the islands, or the islands' local communities from benefiting from their visits ... In no case shall we accept any violent interruption of traffic through the port," he said.

He recognized that the town faced problems due to the high load of holiday traffic, but said the government had adopted relevant measures and hoped that the mayor, A. Kehagioglou, would work out prudent solutions.

Judicial probe ordered into reported blockade of Rafina's port: The Athens prosecutor's office on Thursday ordered an investigation into whether residents of Rafina illegally blocked the coastal township's harbor recently as part of a protest rally.

The order comes after press reports stated that groups of residents in the eastern Attica township blocked the harbor to protest against what they charged as an enormous increase in passenger ferry routes from Rafina's port, resulting in excessive noise pollution, environmental concerns etc.

Rafina is second only to Piraeus in terms of maritime passenger volume in Attica prefecture, which holds roughly half of Greeces population.

The investigation is pending.

[17] Athens 2004 torch relay to travel through Balkans, Italy, Cyprus

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

The flame, to be lit from the sun's rays in ancient Olympia, would travel through Italy, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bulgaria, Turkey and Cyprus, Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos told a press conference.

"The Olympic Flame has a very strong symbolism. It can help towards the improvement of our relations with neighboring countries," Deputy Sports Minister George Floridis told the same conference.

The issue will be discussed with the competent ministers of these countries during a meeting in northern Greece in August, he added.

[18] Temperature to edge down on Friday

Athens, 28/07/2000 (ANA)

[19] Gov't spokesman says Cypriot political leaders are being briefed on proximity talks in Geneva

GENEVA, 28/07/2000 (CNA/ANA)

In a written statement, Papapetrou says that "the process of the proximity talks is continuing", adding that President Clerides was able to discuss with the UN chief's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, the thoughts the latter had submitted and the comments the President made.

"On all issues arising from the meetings with de Soto, the President of the Republic meets daily with the political party leaders, analyses in depth the developments and they set out further moves", he added.

The UN-led proximity talks opened last December and meetings were also held in February and earlier this month, aiming at paving the way for substantive negotiations to reach a settlement in Cyprus, divided since Turkish troops invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in 1974.

[20] UN special envoy meets Clerides, Denktash

GENEVA, 28/07/2000 (CNA/ANA)

De Soto, also met on Thursday for about two hours with Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, in the context of UN-led proximity talks on the Cyprus problem, aimed at paving the way for meaningful negotiations leading to a comprehensive settlement.

After the meeting, Denktash only said that "we are discussing very-thing".

Meanwhile, sources have said that during their meeting two days ago, Denktash slowly read out, word-for-word, to de Soto all 30 pages of his response to thoughts the UN diplomat had submitted to the two sides before the third round of talks adjourned earlier this month.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island.

The UN-led proximity talks, separate meetings with either side, opened last December and meetings were also held in February and earlier this month. Another round is scheduled for September.

[21] UK MP's table motion on Cyprus

NICOSIA, 28/07/2000 (CNA/ANA)

In the early day motion, the 12 MPs note that the House of Commons welcomes the UN-led proximity talks on the Cyprus problem, as well as "the opportunity that Greek and Turkish Cypriots have taken to establish meetings between civil society groups on the island".

They also say that the House "urges all three guarantor powers to support those on the island working for a peaceful outcome, based on a bizonal bicommunal solution, in accordance with UN resolutions in the interests of both communities on the island".

The UN-led proximity talks opened last December and meetings were also held in February and earlier this month, aiming at paving the way for substantive negotiations to reach a settlement in Cyprus, divided since Turkish troops invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in 1974. In their motion, the MPs also note that the House "is alarmed by reports of intervention by the Turkish military commander on the island in the April elections for the unrecognized regime in northern Cyprus" and "condemns the arrests and legal action taken against Turkish opposition politicians and journalists".

The illegal regime in the Turkish occupied areas had illegally arrested six journalists, including Sener Levent, who is one of the most outspoken critics of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, but released them at a later date after "charging" them with espionage.

The regime also "fined" Turkish Cypriot daily "Avrupa" 225.000 dollars in December for allegedly libeling Denktash and later seized computers when the newspaper failed to pay the fine.

[22] Greenpeace comments on Turkey's decision to cancel tender on nuclear power plant

NICOSIA, 28/07/2000 (CNA/ANA)

It adds that "the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project is the perfect example of the efforts being made to transfer hazardous and polluting technologies from industrialized countries to developing countries", noting that "Greenpeace has condemned the double standards shown by the international nuclear companies, which were forced to succumb to anti-nuclear public pressure in their own countries and instead turned to shove their unwanted nuclear reactors onto an unwilling Turkish public through political pressure".

Referring to Turkey's energy problems, Greenpeace says they can be solved "through basic energy efficiency and conservation measures", as the country loses approximately 30 percent of the electricity generated in transmission and distribution, and mentions alternatives such as wind.

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