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Athens News Agency: News in English, 97-03-19

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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


NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 19/03/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

  • Kranidiotis-Fino meeting called off
  • FM Pangalos on lightning visit to Skopje, Belgrade
  • Gov't defends Pangalos after Kinkel comments
  • Simitis: Greece's Balkan policy can contribute to regional stability
  • Papantoniou: Greece entered a period of lower budget deficits
  • Greece and Tunisia sign tourism agreement

    NEWS IN DETAIL

    Kranidiotis-Fino meeting called off

    The meeting scheduled to take place between Foreign Undersecretary Yannos Kranidiotis and Albanian Prime Minister Bashkim Fino in Gjirokaster today has been cancelled, following complaints from the Albanian side that it had not been informed of the Greek official's visit.

    ''The Albanian government had been informed about my visit to southern Albania, in fact I notified Mr. Fino personally,'' Kranidiotis said, returning from Gjirokaster to Ioannina, northern Greece.

    Kranidiotis said he had informed Fino when the two met aboard an Italian frigate in the Adriatic some days prior to his visit.

    Kranidiotis was responding to a demarche lodged by the Albanian Foreign Ministry with the Greek Embassy in Tirana concerning meetings between the undersecretary and rebel representatives in southern Albania.

    The demarche notes that the rebel representatives have no institutional competency for such meetings and Kranidiotis' visit should not have taken on such a nature.

    In Athens, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas also underlined that the Albanian government had been informed of Kranidiotis' visit.

    ''(The visit) was necesary for calm and the restoration of normality which, together with humanitarian aid, is contributing to the efforts being made by Greece for the restoration of calm in the region,'' Reppas said.

    The spokesman added that the Albanian demarche would not affect the course of Greek-Albanian relations.

    Kranidiotis said he would convey the views expressed by the representatives of political parties, local government and rebels during his two-day visit to southern Albania not only to the Greek government but also to the Albanian government and the European Union.

    ''Greece's aim is for Albania to return to normality,'' Kranidiotis said, expressing the hope that Albanian President Sali Berisha's refusal to give in to the rebels' ultimatum to step down would not lead to an exacerbation of the situation.

    Reppas said the Greek government had responded to the Albanian demarche underlining that Tirana had been aware of the visit, which constituted the continuation of initiatives aimed at ushering in a new period for relations between the two Balkan neighbours.

    He stressed that the cancellation of Kranidiotis' meeting with Fino was in no way connected to the Albanian demarche.

    The spokesman said the government believed that a political solution in Albanian was now nearer, this being due to the activities and initiatives of both the European Union and of Greece.

    Meanwhile, Reppas linked the visits by Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos today to Skopje and Belgrade to developments in Albania, referring in particular to the Albanian minority in Kosovo and Tetovo.

    Pangalos' visit, he said, is a Greek initiative and ''constitutes Greece's contribution to efforts to avert destabilisation in the Balkans''.

    Replying to questions, Reppas said Pangalos would not be discussing the FYROM issue with President Kiro Gligorov.

    ''In any case, the (Greece-FYROM) intermediate agreement does not provide for discussion in this manner and at this level on the issue of (FYROM's) name,'' Reppas said, noting that there was no movement on the name issue and that FYROM must display good will.

    If the name issue is raised by Skopje, Reppas added, ''Mr. Pangalos will reply on the basis of Greece's known positions''.

    Pangalos leaves for Skopje, Belgrade

    Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos left today by air for a lightning visit to Skopje and Belgrade to discuss the Albanian crisis, foreign ministry sources said.

    Pangalos later had four hours of talks with FYROM's political leadership, including President Kiro Gligorov, Prime Minister Branco Crvenkovski, Foreign Minister Lubomir Frckovski and the ministers of defence and the interior, according to an ANA despatch from Skopje.

    He told a press conference that ''the situation in the region made it necessary for the Greek government to have direct consultations'' with FYROM.

    The two governments are working for peace and stability in the region, he said, adding that such types of meetings would continue during the coming weeks between the foreign ministers of the two countries and possibly the defence ministers.

    During the talks, the two sides exchanged views on Europe's enlargement in the Balkans and Pangalos briefed the FYROM leadership on a proposal being worked on by the Greek government providing for economic assistance from the European Union and international economic organisations to the Balkan region, without which, he noted, it would be difficult to make the transition to a market economy.

    This proposal, Pangalos went on, will be discussed in Thessaloniki on 9 June at the meeting of Balkan foreign ministers, in order to put the final touches to it and present it to the international community, the EU, the USA and international economic organisations.

    Asked by the ANA if there was a danger of the Albanian crisis spreading to the areas of Kosovo and FYROM, Pangalos replied that there was an immediate danger of a broader crisis.

    ''A simpler phenomenon is the mass migration (of Albanians) to neighbouring countries, without of course ruling out even worse developments. Which is why we must be ready for the worst, while working for the best,'' Pangalos said.

    On the issue of FYROM's name, Pangalos said both countries wanted a solution but that ''Athens and Skopje cannot take the place of the United Nations and the Security Council''.

    ''Both countries are determined to look to the future. We express the majority of our respective peoples and we shall overcome the voices which want to lead us backwards,'' Pangalos said.

    Government defends Pangalos after Kinkel comments

    ''Mr. Pangalos is in good health as proven by his two visits today to Skopje and Belgrade,'' government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Wednesday responding to a German Foreign Ministry statement.

    The statement from Bonn yesterday was responding to comments made by Pangalos on Monday concerning Germany's foreign policy.

    ''The Germans are crazy about the Croats. They love the Slovenians. They love them because these people collaborated with them in the Second World War. They also love the Turks, for similar reasons. It is evident that from the perspective of an atavistic perception of history, when memories come back, that they don't love the Greeks,'' Pangalos had said.

    German Foreign Ministry official Martin Erdmann replied yesterday saying:

    ''We hope that (Pangalos) is well (in health) and we wish him to continue successfully handling the representation of Greece's interests in the sector of foreign policy.''

    Reppas expressed the government's full support for Pangalos, saying the minister was correctly handling the country's foreign policy issues and effectively promoting Greek interests.

    Replying to questions on relations between Athens and Bonn, Reppas said Greece and Germany were working together in the European Union and it was the common desire of both countries for there to be good cooperation.

    ''Our relations cannot be ensnared in such types of reactions,'' he added.

    Simitis: Greece's Balkan policy can contribute to regional stability

    Prime Minister Costas Simitis said in Thessaloniki last night that Athens' Balkan policy is the tool capable of contributing to stability, democracy, development and cooperation in the Balkans.

    Mr. Simitis was speaking at the closing session of a two-day conference entitled "Business Cooperation in Southeastern Europe" held in northern Greece for the fourth consecutive year.

    "We can defend our common future in the Balkans, we have a voice and influence in shaping developments," he noted.

    Mr. Simitis outlined initiatives which the government had taken and intends to take to handle the crisis in Albania, to prevent it from spreading and having unfavourable repercussions for the ethnic Greek minority as well as to prevent a wave of mass im migration to Greece.

    He referred to the inter-Balkan conference being prepared by the government at a foreign ministers' level in Thessaloniki on June 9-10 and recalled action taken by Athens from the time events began in Albania.

    "Greece has processed a structured and overall proposal aimed at the longterm handling of problems faced by Balkan states and this proposal was presented at the European Union's Council of Foreign Ministers on Feb. 24," he said.

    Mr. Simitis said the proposal is aimed at mobilising the EU in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and other international fiscal organisations.

    Mr. Simitis said that developments in Albania and the rest of the Balkans have shown that a more substantive and integrated policy is required by European organisations for the entire Balkan region.

    Papantoniou: Greece entered a period of lower budget deficits

    Last year was the first year of real convergence of the Greek economy with the rest in the European Union, according to National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.

    Speaking during the same conference in Thessaloniki, Mr. Papantoniou said that the country has entered a period of low budget deficits, low inflation and comparatively higher growth rates, forecasting that lower lending interest rates would maintain the stabilisation of the economy and accelerate the pace of economic growth.

    Specifically, he said that the fiscal deficit will be reduced to 4.2 per cent of GDP, public debt to 109 from 111.8 per cent of GDP last year, and that a further substantial fall in interest rates will contribute to an improvement of the competitiveness of businesses, despite a strict exchange policy.

    The recovery in investment, public and private, is expected to accelerate the rate of growth, bringing it to 3.5 per cent. Inflation is expected to fall to 4.5 per cent with the appropriate combination of fiscal, monetary and exchange policy, he stated.

    Mr. Papantoniou said 1996 was the first year of real convergence of the Greek economy to Maastricht Treaty targets, inaugurating a period of low fiscal deficits, low inflation and comparatively higher growth rates.

    He described the overall record of the Greek economy in the last 3.5 years as satisfactory, given that fiscal deficits came down by 7 percentage points, from 14.4 per cent in 1993 to 7.4 per cent last year, and inflation from 12.3 per cent in 1993 to 6. 6 per cent in February this year.

    "This rate is the lowest in the last 25 years, while the exchange parity of the drachma has been fully stabilised and constitutes a crucial factor of confidence in the Greek economy," he said.

    Greece and Tunisia sign tourism agreement

    A protocol agreement has been signed between the Greek Tourist Organisation (EOT) and the Tunisian Tourist Organisation during a visit paid to Tunisia by EOT President Yiannis Stephanidis, who was representing Greece at the second session of the joint Greek-Tunisian tourist cooperation committee.

    The session ascertained considerable possibilities to increase tourist movement in both countries.

    The protocol provides cooperation in tourist promotion, investments and cultural tourism sectors, a visit by Tunisian officials to Greece for an exchange of views on issues concerning marinas, golf courses and hotel management, the hold ing of a three- to four-week training seminar in Greece to train Tunisian tourist occupation academy educators, the issuing by both countries of a pamphlet containing Ulyses' sailings in the Mediterranean and the twinning of the cities of Ithaca and Jerba and the island of Kalymnos with the island of Kerkennah.

    WEATHER

    Cloudiness that will gradually become heavier in central and northern Greece with the possibility of rain in the evening is forecast for today. Winds will be moderate reaching gale force in the west at night. Athens will be cloudy with temperatures between 6-14C. Thessaloniki also cloudy with possible drizzle and temperatures between 1-13C.

    FOREIGN EXCHANGE

    Tuesday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 264.160 Pound sterling 419.199 Cyprus pd 521.078 French franc 46.404 Swiss franc 181.834 German mark 156.577 Italian lira (100) 15.601 Yen (100) 215.234 Canadian dlr. 192.250 Australian dlr. 207.918 Irish Punt 411.184 Belgian franc 7.589 Finnish mark 51.961 Dutch guilder 139.113 Danish kr. 41.001 Swedish kr. 34.149 Norwegian kr. 38.553 Austrian sch. 22.260 Spanish peseta 1.844 Portuguese escudo 1.555

    (M.P.)


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