Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-10
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 10/03/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Cypriot president in Athens for talks
- Greece supports Balkan line on Kosovo
- U.S. ambassador hopes for dialogue
- Greek loan to Albania signed
- Albanian president continues visit
- Rising crime rate attributed to foreigners
- Stocks end lower on profit-taking
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Cypriot president in Athens for talks
Greece today expressed hope that Turkey would take the "historic" decisions
necessary for peace and stability in the region by making a positive
contribution to efforts for a solution of the Cyprus problem.
"Turkey has an important role to play and responsibility for the successful
outcome of efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, the settlement of which
will bring Turkey even closer to Europe and surely open up new horizons for
Greek-Turkish relations," Simitis said after 90 minutes of talks here with
Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides.
Replying to reporters' questions about Greece's veto of European Union
funding to Turkey, Simitis said Athens had repeatedly stated its lifting of
the veto was dependent on "certain moves" being made by Ankara.
Greece is willing to contribute to Turkey's European orientation, the
premier said, but positive steps by Ankara are required.
Talks between the Greek and Cypriot delegations, headed by Simitis and
Clerides, focused on developments in the Cyprus problem and negotiations
for Cyprus' accession to the EU due to begin on March 31.
Also taking part in the talks were Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos,
Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Foreign Undersecretary
Yiannos Kranidiotis and Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.
Greece supports Balkan line on Kosovo
The positions contained in the declaration of Balkan countries on the
Kosovo crisis are in line with Greece's positions, government spokesman
Dimitris Reppas said today.
He was referring to a joint declaration on the Kosovo crisis agreed in
Sofia yesterday by Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Reppas underlined however that the crisis in Kosovo was an issue involving
the government of Yugoslavia and the Albanian-speaking population of the
province.
According to diplomatic sources, the text of the declaration is in favour
of granting broad autonomy to Kosovo, inhabited mostly by ethnic Albanians,
but within the internationally recognised borders of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia, since the five nations are opposed to any change of borders
in the region.
The five nations reportedly propose in addition that a 1996 educational
agreement between then Serb president Slobodan Milosevic and ethnic
Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova be implemented immediately.
Replying to questions on the possibility of international involvement in
the Kosovo crisis, Reppas said that when human rights are being trampled,
the international community should respond.
U.S. ambassador hopes for dialogue
US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns today advocated a peaceful solution
to the Kosovo crisis and said he opposed the use of violence.
He told a press conference in Hania, on the island of Crete, that Greece
and the US were in constant contact and seeking solutions to defuse the
crisis in Serbia's mainly ethnic Albanian-populated Kosovo province.
Burns also said that Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic should "discuss
peacefully" before restoring to the use of violence to solve the problems
in the region.
Everything would depend on Milosevic's stance, he said.
"It (the Kosovo) is a serious crisis that should be treated seriously," the
American envoy said.
Burns side-stepped a question on the United States' "different approach to
the massacres of Kurds in Turkey and the Kosovo crisis", by replied that
the US "is an ally of both Greece and Turkey" and used "the same set of
standards and balances on the two problems".
The U.S., he continued, would continue to be friends with both Greece and
Turkey "and we do not see the one country as being above the other".
Burns was on the second day of a two-day visit to Crete, where he visited
the U.S. airbase at Souda and toured NATO installatins at Marathi.
Turning to the operational capabilities of the American base at Souda,
Burns said the role it played was limited, and denied recent rumours about
the possible implication of Greece in the Gulf crisis with the provision of
facilities and services through the Souda base.
"Such assistance has never been requested," Burns said.
Greek loan to Albania signed
Greece and Albanian today signed an agreement for a 5 billion drachma loan
to Tirana to be used to finance on favourable terms Greek and Albanian
companies and joint ventures active in the neighbouring country.
A National Economy Ministry announcement said priority in allocating the
loan funds would be given to Greek, Albanian and joint ventures in the
neighbouring country which suffered losses as a result of the violence in
Spring last year.
The loan is part of Greece's overall financial assistance to Albania
totalling 20 billion drachmas.
Two billion drachmas has already been granted as free aid, while an
agreement has been signed for a further 3 billion drachmas to support the
Albanian economy.
Albanian president continues visit
Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani and Parliament President Apostolos
Kaklamanis had a meeting in Parliament House this morning, after which the
Albanian president called for more frequent talks on a parliamentary level
in order to promote democratic institutions in a civil society, respect for
citizens' rights to education, freedom of religious expression and the
right to own property.
He promised that in future the Albanian government and political parties
would work together to respect the will of the people.
Kaklamanis said Mejdani's visit was an important factor in building
friendship and cooperation between the two countries. He added that respect
for human rights, the securing of borders and dialogue between peoples,
governments and other organisations were the only way to resolve the
region's problems.
Rising crime rate attributed to foreigners
The rising incidence of armed robberies committed by Albanians and
Romanians has been the subject of three days of talks by senior Public
Order Ministry officials, it was announced today.
Ministry sources say that while in 1987 there were only 292 robberies in
the whole of Greece, last year there were 1,215 robberies in Attica alone.
Around 70% of these crimes were committed by foreigners, mainly Albanians
and Romanians.
It was decided to step up police patrols of the suburbs of Zographou, Aghia
Paraskevi, Neo Iraklio, Halandri and Hymettos, where most of the robberies
of the past six months were committed.
Another source of concern are the increasing attacks by Albanians on taxi
drivers.
Over the last two days, around 1,000 Albanians have been taken in for
questioning at several police stations in Attica in connection with several
robberies, although all were subsequently released.
The problem has been exacerbated over the past five months, police say, by
the fact that sweeps of suspected illegal aliens have not taken place, in
order to give illegal residents time to acquire the new residency and work
permits.
Most police stations are understaffed, say officials, as 2,500 officers are
guarding suspected terrorist targets.
Stocks end lower on profit-taking
Greek equities ended mixed to lower at today's session as early protif-
taking partly halted a rally of prices on the Athens Stock Exchange. The
general index ended 0.10 percent down to 1,517.54 points despite a 5.11
percent jump in the construction sector.
Other sector indices were mixed. Banks fell 0.88 percent, Insurance eased
0.52 percent, Leasing dropped 0.05 percent, Investment fell 0.30 percent,
Industrials were 0.03 percent off, Miscellaneous rose 0.22 percent and
Holding increased 0.95 percent.
The parallel market index for small cap companies shot up 2.87 percent
reflecting investors' appetite for second-tier issues with greater growth
potential.
Trading was moderate with turnover at 17.1 billion drachmas.
Broadly, advancers led decliners by 121 to 87 with another 32 issues
unchanged.
WEATHER
Cloudiness and rain is forecast for most of Greece today. Snowfall in the
mountainous regions of central and northern Greece from the afternoon.
Clouds and rain in Athens with temperatures between 11-16C. Same weather in
Thessaloniki with temperatures from 7-13C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Monday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 286.936 Pound sterling 469.117
Cyprus pd 536.553 French franc 46.779 Swiss franc 192.582 German mark
156.835 Italian lira (100) 15.946 Yen (100) 223.904 Canadian dlr. 202.943
Australian dlr. 191.158 Irish Punt 389.360 Belgian franc 7.602 Finnish mark
51.711 Dutch guilder 139.163 Danish kr. 41.150 Swedish kr. 35.772
Norwegian kr. 37.706 Austrian sch. 22.296 Spanish peseta 1.851 Port.
Escudo 1.531
(M.P.)
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