Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-06-10

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 10/06/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Meeting of Balkan entrepreneurs focusses on privatisations
• Balkan cooperation enters new era, Pangalos says
• Greek foreign minister urges closer Balkan economic ties
• Ankara sends deputy undersecretary to Thessaloniki FM's conference
• Holbrooke: Cyprus solution may lead to Greek-Turkish rapprochement
• IGC the focus of Simitis-Kok meeting in Athens
• Joint US-Greek military exercise
• Papazoi outlines investment potential in Aegean
• OTE share registration opens tomorrow
• Gov't, Olympic Metro dispute headed for court
• Bus tickets to rise in July, pending approval
• Greek stocks recoup losses, end flat
• 'Queen of World Tourism' beauty pageant in Patra
• Ford lead the way in Acropolis rally
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greek businesses will be offered significant opportunities for investment in the Balkans as denationalisation programmes get under way by countries in the region, a senior Greek national economy ministry official said yesterday.

Ministry secretary-general Nikos Zahariadis, who chaired a morning meeting of businessmen from Balkan states on the sidelines of the Balkan foreign ministers' meeting in Thessaloniki, said that if entrepreneurs were cautious they could make profitable investments in neighbouring states.

Greece had a number of agencies and organisations - such as the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board (HEPO) - that could alleviate the risks of investing in these countries, he added.

Greek entrepreneurs wanted "a clear and simple statement of the privatisation situation", he said, as well as information on guarantees, particularly from the European Union and the avoidance of double taxation.

Balkan cooperation enters new era, Pangalos says

Foreign ministers attending the southeast nations' conference in Thessaloniki decided yesterday to establish an annual meeting on a rotational basis.

At the close of the first day of the conference, Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said that their meeting next year would be held in Turkey, in 1999 in Romania and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the year 2000.

The representatives of foreign ministeries also decided to propose an informal meeting of Balkan leaders to take place annually, starting with Greece at the end of the year.

"We are entering a new era in Balkan cooperation," Mr. Pangalos said. "Up to now, there were ideas and meetings that had an uncertain outcome. Today we succeeded in establishing Balkan cooperation as a perspective for the future," he added.

He said "the Balkan people should be able to discuss their problems on their own, without foreign intervention".

Meanwhile, Richard Shifter, an adviser to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, later expressed Washington's ''strong interest'' in the development of relations of cooperation between the countries of southeast Europe.

Mr. Shifter, who heads the US delegation observing the sessions of the Thessaloniki conference, expressed Washington's satisfaction at the fact cooperation was being promoted between the countries of the region. He added that the US government ''warmly supports this cooperation'', noting that ''it is very positive that the committees of the Initiative for Cooperation in Southeast Europe are convening twice a month in the various capitals."

Greek foreign minister urges closer Balkan economic ties

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos stressed the need for closer economic ties among Balkan countries and new programmes to develop the region's infrastructure. Speaking at the Balkan foreign ministers' conference in Thessaloniki, Mr. Pangalos said states should cooperate on a bilateral, multilateral and regional level, backed by European Union cross- border programmes.

He repeated a proposal submitted by Greece in February at the EU Council of Ministers calling for a long-term solution to problems faced by Balkan countries during their transition to a market economy.

Around 130 businessmen from Balkan countries are attending a meeting being held on the sidelines of the ministers' conference. One of the main issues on the businessmen's agenda is privatisation in Balkan states.

Ankara sends deputy undersecretary to Thessaloniki FMs` conference

Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan was expected to represent Turkey at the two-day Balkan foreign ministers' conference in Thessaloniki.

Ambassador Tuygan is responsible for relations with Balkan countries in the Turkish foreign ministry and will stand in for Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller.

In addition, the Turkish press criticised the absence of a higher ranking official at the conference and stated that Athens was quickly replacing Ankara in the limelight.

"The attention of all Balkan countries which early in the 1990s was focused on Turkey is now focused on Greece," wrote Cenghiz Chadar in the daily "Sabah".

The daily "Hurriyet" claimed that "the Balkans have surrendered to Athens," and added that Turkey was the only country not being represented on a ministerial level in the conference. Turkish analysts noted that Greece now wields noteworthy leverage in the Balkans, although relations were not close with any of its neighbours two years ago.

Holbrooke: Cyprus solution may lead to Greek-Turkish rappoachement

A solution of the Cyprus problem could open the way for a "greater historical rapproachement between Athens and Ankara," US special presidential envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke was quoted as saying in yesterday's edition of the "Financial Times."

He added that dangers in the eastern Mediterranean are greater than those that existed in Bosnia.

The situation in Cyprus could "explode at any moment, bringing into direct conflict two eastern allies, Greece and Turkey," said the chief negotiator of the Dayton peace accords for Bosnia.

"The Greeks and Turks must learn that they have nothing to gain from the other's weaknesses," he said. Mr. Holbrooke also called on both nations to normalise relations, citing the meetings of French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mr. Holbrooke said that a solution to the Cyprus issue would not be arrived at in so short a time as the Dayton agreements on Bosnia, because the two problems were very different and both sides had toughened their stance in the 23 years since the Turkish invasion of the island republic.

IGC the focus of Simitis-Kok meeting in Athens

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Dutch Prime Minister and European Council President Wim Kok held talks last night, focusing on latest problems in the Intergovernmental Conference on revising the Maastricht Treaty so that a new European Union treaty would materialise at the European Council in Amsterdam on June 15-16.

Mr. Kok is conducting a tour of EU capitals to achieve a convergence of views to enable the Amsterdam summit to reach an agreement on the Intergovernmental conference.

In a statement after the talks, Mr. Kok said certain issues which need to be resolved continue to exist in the sector of the Intergovernmental Conference and thanked the Greek side for cooperation it provided for the Dutch presidency at this stage.

Mr. Simitis said said the Greek side had received positive replies on the issue of borders and islands in the framework of negotiating.

Joint US-Greek military exercise

A medium-scale joint exercise code-named "Megas Alexandros" will staged on Thursday with the participation of army units from Greece and the United States.

It will be conducted in the region of the Pagasitikos Gulf, the Aegean, the islands of Skyros and Agios Efstratios and will include, among others, a beach landing. It will be directed by the national defence general staff and will be completed on June 20.

Papazoi outlines investment potential in Aegean

The course of the Greek economy and the goals of the Greek government's development policy were outlined by Aegean Minister Elizabeth Papazoi to Greek-American businessmen yesterday at an event organised by the US Federation of Aegean Islands.

Ms Papazoi placed weight on investment opportunities in the Aegean, saying: "We are open to any proposal for cooperation and initiative from the expatriate community to bolster the local economies of the Aegean islands."

The importance of investment for the islands and particularly those in border regions was stressed by the minister. She also noted the problem of Turkish threats, which she characterised as "real threats which constitute a serious danger to our country ".

"The two most serious Turkish threats over the Aegean are developmental stagnation and environmental damage," she said, stressing that 8.0 percent of the Greek state budget was spent on defence.

OTE share registration opens tomorrow

Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) shares will be offered to the public from almost all Greek banks and listed securities beginning tomorrow through Friday, June 13, the National Bank of Greece announced yesterday.

An investor will have to deposit the equivalent value of the shares he wishes to acquire, in blocks of 10 shares during registration.

The share price will be revealed on June 16, but a range is expected to be announced this afternoon.

The final value per share will be determined by the product/equation of share demand multiplied by the maximum share price in the range of price offering.

National Bank said the final price would be determined by demand from institutional investors in Greece and abroad, through a parallel process of bookbuilding, combined with public demand.

The bookbuilding process began yesterday and was expected to be completed by Friday.

Gov't, Olympic Metro dispute headed for court

The dispute between the government and the consortium Olympic Metro is headed to the courts after the latter refused to evacuate the section of the under-construction metro section between Syntagma Square and Kerameikos.

Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Undersecretary Christos Verelis said the government is consequently obliged to initiate legal action. That section of the metro project has been removed from the contract following what the government called exorbitant financial demands made by the consortium.

According to reports, tendering has already taken place and bids have been made by several Greek firms to construct a pilot tunnel between Syntagma and Kerameikos in order to ascertain what antiquities exist and to enable necessary measures to be taken during construction of the regular tunnel.

Moreover, the consortium stated that it will not be ready to deliver the remaining project in 1999, or within the time limit set in its contract, and continues to put forward new demands, reports state.

Bus tickets to rise in July, pending approval

The price of bus tickets will increase to 100 drachmas in July, from the current 75, if the Prices and Incomes Commission approves of a transport ministry proposal, it was announced yesterday. The ministry is also asking for a rise in the multiple-ride bu s cards to 5,000 drachmas from the current 3,750 drachmas. It said the increases would help cover part of the deficit and operation costs, which are calculated at 270 drachmas per passenger. The president of the Organisation for Urban Transport of Attica said his organisation intends to extend bus lanes an additional 6,500 metres and add 100 new buses in the western Athens region that will run on natural gas.

Greek stocks recoup losses, end flat

Shares remained under pressure on the Athens Stock Exchange at the beginning of the week but managed to claw back earlier heavy losses to end fractionally lower.

The general index, however, ended below the 1,600 support level at 1,589.79 points, down 0.16 percent. Sector indices ended mixed to lower. Banks rose 0.47 percent, Leasing was 0.44 percent off, Insurance fell 0.68 percent, Investment dropped 0.48 percent, Industrials eased 0.82 percent, Construction rose 0.07 percent, Holding was 0.35 percent up and Miscellaneous fell 0.63 percent. The Parallel Market index eased 0.28 percent.

Trading was moderate on turnover of 16.2 billion drachmas.

Broadly, declining issues led advancing ones by 125 to 94 with another 20 stocks remaining unchanged.

Mytilineos, Flexopak, Ideal and Agrinio Metalplastics scored the biggest gains, while General Bank, Kekrops, Elviemek and Parnassos suffered the heaviest losses.

National Bank of Greece closed at 35,995 drachmas, Ergobank at 18,050, Alpha Credit Bank at 19,400, Titan Cement at 25,210, Intracom at 13,100 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) at 6,905 drachmas.

Traders said the market was awaiting OTE's second public share offer starting on Wednesday.

'Queen of World Tourism' beauty pageant in Patra

A beauty pageant to elect the "Queen of World Tourism" will be held in Greece for the first time this year.

The event, initiated 10 years ago, will be hosted at the Porto Rio-Casino Rio Hotel complex in Patra on Sept. 6.

The events, which will take place both before and after the election of the Queen of World Tourism, will be under the sponsorship of the Greek Tourist Organisation (EOT).

Ford lead the way in Acropolis Rally

The Ford duo of Finn Juha Kankkunen and Spain's Carlos Sainz pulled clear in the Acropolis Rally on Monday. Kankkunen, who had started the day with a 27-second lead over the Mitsubishis of Briton Richard Burns and Finland's Tommi Makinen, had seen his advantage over Burns cut to 17 seconds at the end of the 10th stage, but slowly rebuilt it to 37 seconds over Sainz as the teams stopped overnight in Kamena Vourla.

Double champion Sainz was in unstoppable form and set the fastest time in six of the day's seven stages as the Ford team look set to secure their first victory of the season. The final leg of the rally on Tuesday afternoon will take the teams to Athens.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.E.)

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