Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-06-24

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 24/06/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Europartenariat `97 opens in Piraeus
• Holbrooke: Cyprus unrelated to Aegean, backs bi-zonal federation
• German state parliament delegation in Athens
• Greek army chief on official visit to Spain
• Greek and Armenian armed forces cooperation discussed
• Gov't warns of dismissals if Olympic strike continues
• Parliamentary delegation visits Cuba
• Institutional selling undermines stock market confidence
• Euro-conference okays transport links between Greece, Austria
• Greece changes penalties for tax evaders
• Xiosbank slightly raises interest rate on deposits
• British sports minister: Greece should stage the 2004 Games
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

The 16th Europartenariat opened at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus yesterday, bringing together representatives from small- and medium- sized enterprises of Europe, the Americas and Asia.

European Commissioner for Energy, SMEs and Tourism Christos Papoutsis opened the two-day meeting designed to improve relations and furthering trade between European Union businessmen and those of other countries.

In a brief address, Development Minister Vasso Papandreou said that it is an indisputable fact that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receive the strongest impact from the abolition of economic boundaries and that the government maintains a high degree of interest in promoting and supporting all initiatives leading to their survival and adjustment.

In this framework, she added, the Europartenariat meeting can and must:

- bring into direct contact as many as possible of the participating enterprises, with the purpose of widening the development of cooperation and

create new ideas, new trends for the competitiveness of enterprises with the purpose of their peaceful co-existence in the new economic environment.

Mr. Papoutsis underlined that only 550 days are left until the start of the third and last stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

The strengthening of the competitiveness of European enterprises, economic development and the creation of employment constitute major priorities, he said, adding that to this effort, the European Commission also organises these meetings in the framework of Europartenariat.

The President of the Federation of Northern Greece Exporters and the head of the organising committee of Europartenariat, A. Genitsaris said that the Piraeus meeting had no precedent as far as Greece was concerned. It constitutes the conclusion of a huge organising effort which includes the chosing of 400 dynamic SMEs from all branches and from all over Greece; the creation and printing of the official catalogue in six languages and 60,000 copies; its promotion all over the world and close cooperation with National Advisers, namely, the organisations which have undertaken to coordinate foreign trade missions.

The Europartenariat has been held since 1987 under the sponsorship of the European Commission. It is held at a different country annually, and this year's, the second for Greece, has been organised by the Federation of Northern Greece Exporters.

The next Europartenariat '97 meeting will be held in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand in October.

Holbrooke: Cyprus unrelated to Aegean, backs bi-zonal federation

The Cyprus issue should be solved within the framework of a single sovereign state, special US presidential envoy on the Cyprus issue Richard Holbrooke said in a televised interview yesterday.

In an interview held jointly by Greek television reporter Alexis Papahelas and Turkish reporter Mehmet Ali Birant for the Greek television station "Mega", Mr. Holbrooke said that the solution of a single sovereignty in the framework of a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation seemed to him "unavoidable".

Mr. Holbrooke expressed support for the idea of free movement between the Cyprus Republic and the Turkish-occupied north, noting that "there was freedom of movement before (the Turkish invasion of) 1974".

The newly appointed US envoy said that preliminary talks he had with both sides indicated that there were profound differences between the two, which the US diplomat said he was not sure would be overcome in their entirety.

He firmly opposed the idea of linking the Cyprus issue with Greek-Turkish relations, especially concerning the Aegean, and noted that none of the representatives he met in Athens or Ankara wished to associate the Cyprus issue with any other problem.

A solution was not impossible, he noted, by the end of negotiations, after "differences in views are reduced".

As to the direct talks between Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, which open near New York under the aegis of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mr. Holbrooke said he would not attend the talks. He said he would do his best towards a solution of the Cyprus issue, but expressed doubt about an outcome, part of which he added would depend on Turkey's acquiring a stable government.

German state parliament delegation in Athens

Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis received a delegation from the parliament of Baden-Wurtenberg yesterday and briefed its members on Greek positions regarding Greek-Turkish relations and stability in the Balkans.

The delegation is headed by the president of the Baden-Wurtenberg parliament, Mr. Straub.

Mr. Kaklamanis outlined what he called Turkey's expansionist policy towards Greece, adding that "the image of present-day Turkey resembles that of Iran shortly before the collapse of the monarchist regime. Unless it is democratised and unless a political solution is given to the Kurdish issue, it will continue to remain a huge problem for Europe," he said.

Greece's initiatives to consolidate peace and cooperation in the Balkans, the overall repercussions of the Kurdish issue and education for ethnic Greek children in Germany were among the matters also discussed during the talks.

Mr. Straub invited Mr. Kaklamanis to visit Baden-Wurtenberg in the framework of the official visit he will pay to Germany in November at the invitation of the president of the German Federal Parliament.

Greek army chief on official visit to Spain

The chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, Lt-Gen. Manoussos Paragioudakis yesterday began a four-day official visit to Spain at the invitation of his Spanish counterpart, Lt-Gen. Jose Faura Martin. During his stay, Lt. Gen. Paragioudakis will visit military academies, units and be briefed on the activities of the Spanish army.

He will also have talks with the chief of Spain's national defence general staff and Lt. Gen. Martin on issues of common interest.

Greek and Armenian armed forces cooperation discussed

Promotion of cooperation between the armed forces of Greece and Armenia was the focal point of talks held in the one-time Soviet republic by the National Defence General Staff Chief Gen. Athanasios Tzoganis.

Gen. Tzoganis examined issues concerning training and cooperation exercises within the framework of the NATO-sponsored programme "Partnership for Peace" (PfP), with the chief of Armenia's armed forces and First National Defence Undersecretary Gen. Harutunian.

The talks once again ascertained the strong ties linking the two countries which constitute the given basis of a sincere and continuous cooperation for the future.

Gen. Tzoganis paid a courtesy call on the Armenian president, the prime minister, the parliament president, the defence minister and the Patriarch of All Armenia.

In Istanbul, Turkish foreign ministry alternate spokesman Sermet Atatzanli said yesterday that Turkey was closely watching the Greek-Armenian agreememnt.

"The issue concerns the security of Turkey and for this reason it is showing the necessary sensitivity," he added.

Gov't warns of dismissals if Olympic strike continues

The government will not succumb to blackmail by Olympic Aviation technicians holding a "go-slow" strike, and will proceed to dismissals if they don't call off their action, Transport and Communications Minister Haris Kastanidis said yesterday.

Mr. Kastanidis said that the technicians are "creating serious problems in services by asking for rash economic demands in the midst of the tourist season, while passenger movement is especially high".

"The government will not accept and will not succumb to this blackmail. If they don't stop immediately this go-slow strike and help the company carry out its summer schedule, the government will proceed through the board to dismissals of those responsible," he said.

The strike began over the weekend and created havoc at Greek airports as cancelled or postponed flights led to hundreds of travellers being stranded at airports throughout Greece.

Nineteen scheduled domestic flights were cancelled yesterday as a result of the "go slow" action.

Olympic Aviation is a subsidiary of Olympic Airways and controls the domestic flights, which it carries out with airplanes carrying a maximum of 80 passengers each.

Parliamentary delegation visits Cuba

A Greek Parliamentary delegation is visiting Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including President Fidel Castro.

Nine members of the Parliamentary committee of national defence and foreign affairs will meet with Mr. Castro, the president of the Cuban parliament, ministers of national defence and foreign affairs, and the chairmen of related parliamentary committees .

The delegation is headed by PASOK deputy and former foreign minister Karolos Papoulias.

Institutional selling undermines stock market confidence

Stock prices remained under pressure on the Athens Stock Exchange extending last week's huge losses with investors suffering a confidence crisis in the market.

Foreign and domestic institutional investors have led the market down during the last five sessions pushing the general index below the 1,500 psychological level, 260 points lower than the year's high of 1,727.70 points two weeks ago.

According to market players the reaction reflected disappointment among institutional investors over errors in the distribution of Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) shares, which led to institutional overbooking.

The market also was wary of a proposal for a 10 percent one-off payment on corporate profits, the prospect of higher interest rates in the domestic money market, and problems linked to a further fall in inflation.

The general index closed 2.16 percent lower at 1,467.92 points, reflecting losses in the banking and investment sectors, down 2.66 and 4.30 percent respectively.

Most other sector indices also lost ground. Industrials fell 2.64 percent, Insurance was 1.67 percent off, Leasing dropped 1.64 percent, and Construction fell 1.63 percent.

The Parallel Market index eased 1.28 percent.

Trading was heavy with turnover at 640 billion drachmas due to the transfer of 47 million shares of OTE, placed on public offer on June 11-13, from the state to main underwriter National Bank of Greece and then to other underwriters.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 159 to 62 with another 26 issues unchanged.

Petzetakis, Aspis, Levenderis and Ideal scored the biggest percentage gains while Bank of Central Greece, Interinvest and Parnassos suffered the heaviest losses of the day.

National Bank of Greece ended at 33,500 drachmas, Ergobank at 16,350, Alpha Credit Bank at 17,780, Titan at 11,850 and OTE at 6,600 drachmas.

Euro-conference okays transport links between Greece, Austria

A pan-European transport conference in Helsinki on Monday endorsed the creation of a road and rail link betweeen the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and Salzburg, Austria.

Addressing the conference, Transport and Communications Minister Haris Kastanidis underlined the importance of the new road and rail axis, which will pass through countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Mr. Kastanidis called on delegates to help find a happy medium between protecting the environment in central Europe, and meeting infrastructure needs of eastern Europe and outlying European Union countries such as Greece, while keeping transport costs down.

Greece changes penalties for tax evaders

Greek Finance Undersecretary George Drys unveiled a more lax penalty system for taxpayers who fail to submit tax returns or are guilty of errors or inaccuracies, but tougher legal sanctions against evaders.

Under the new system additional taxes cannot exceed 300 percent in cases of inaccuracies or non-submission of tax returns in order to combat tax evasion. Legal sanctions will be stricter.

The new settlement system applies to taxpayers who have pending cases with the tax collecting agency that have yet to be cleared or relate to outstanding debts, Mr. Drys said.

The system envisages ten-year imprisonment for tax evasion on annual income of more than 50 million drachmas, and one-year imprisonment for evasion on annual income exceeding 5 million drachmas.

Ten-year imprisonment is envisaged for tax evasion on Value Added Tax and related withholding taxes of more than 25 million drachmas a year.

Xiosbank slightly raises interest rate on deposits

Xiosbank raised the interest rate on it's Xiosalma savings plan by a quarter of a percentage point yesterday.

Specifically, for an account more than two million drachmas, the nominal rate stands at 9.5 per cent, while the annual return stands at 9.92 per cent.

British sports minister: Greece should stage the 2004 Games

British Sports Minister Tony Banks has expressed the view that Athens has very strong arguments and special reasons to organise the Olympic Games of 2004.

He said if the games were ever to be organised in one place on a permanent basis, there was no doubt that this place should be Greece.

"The Greeks always have special reasons and very strong arguments to organise the Olympic Games, taking into account that they gave them to the world. There is also an argument that has concerned me at times, if there should be a permanent home for the holding of the Olympic Games. And it has been recommended that the permanent place for the Olympic Games should be Greece, as their (Games) organisation is now becoming increasingly costly. So, I believe that the Greeks have a very good case," he said.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.E.)

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