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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-08-24Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>NEWS IN ENGLISHAthens, Greece, 24/08/1999 (ANA)MAIN HEADLINES
NEWS IN DETAILGreece and Albania sign two cooperation protocolsGreece and Albania on Tuesday signed two bilateral cooperation protocols following talks in Tirana between Prime Minister Costas Simitis and the Albanian leadership, according to an ANA despatch from the Albanian capital. Simitis, who arrived in Tirana for a one-day official visit this morning, had separate talks with President Rexhep Mejdani and his Albanian counterpart, Pandeli Majko. The first protocol provides for further economic cooperation between the two countries and specifically, the establishment of a border post in the area of Treis Gefyres, Premeti. The second, signed by Foreign Minister George Papandreou and his Albanian counterpart, Paskal Milo, provides for joint sea patrols in the stretch of water between Sarande and Corfu, which will be aimed at preventing cross- border crime such as smuggling. According to Greek diplomatic sources, Simitis and Majko discussed a number of minor problems in bilateral relations, such as the large numbers of Albanians illegally entering Greece, but both stressed that these problems would not affect the two countries' good relations. Also discussed were procedures for the disbursement of 1.5 million dollars of Greek aid to Albania. Simitis yesterday noted that Greece had been lobbying for closer links between Albania and the European Union as well as for closer cooperation between the neighbouring country with NATO and the Western European Union (WEU). "The ties between our countries have been continously and steadily developing in all areas over the past few years," Simitis said in an interview with the state-run Albanian Telegraph Agency (ATA). "We believe in Albania's progress and growth, because it is exactly that growth and progress which secure stability in the Balkans," the Greek premier said, adding that "this is why cooperation in the past was and will continue in the future to be one of the main targets of Greek foreign policy." Five mayors meet to coordinate humanitarian aid for Turkey The mayors of the five biggest municipalities in the country met on Tuesday in Athens to discuss the coordination of humanitarian aid to quake-stricken Turkey. The meeting was attended by the mayors of Athens, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Thessaloniki, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, Piraeus, Christos Agrapidis, Patras, Evangelos Floratos and Heraklion, Costas Aslanis. Speaking later at a joint news conference, Avramopoulos said the meeting was aimed at joining the forces of the five municipalities to respond collectively to the great needs which have arisen in Turkey following the devastating earthquake of August 17 which claimed thousands of lives. Avramopoulos said that a coordinating body had been set up in Athens municipality to facilitate the gathering and despatch of humanitarian aid, in a common effort of the five municipalities. He said the venture had been named "Operation Solidarity". Avramopoulos told reporters that he would travel to Turkey tomorrow for talks with the mayor of Istanbul, Ali Mufit Gurduna, to discuss Athens' offer to set up a 1,000-tent camp for the homeless, together with hospital and facilities such as a playground. The camp will be set up by a Greek team. Avramopoulos said that ten containers of aid had so far been collected, in addition to the relief gathered in other municipalities. In a related development, one of the Greece's most modern mobile medical units was today handed over to the 'Medecins sans Frontieres' organisations for use in the northwest of Turkey for one month. The unit was recently given to local government authorities in Kavala by the National Economy Ministry. The unit departed for Turkey today on the instructions of Kavala Mayor Theodoros Kalliontzis. Reservoir of goodwill between Greek, Turkish peoples cited Foreign Minister George Papandreou stressed yesterday that the conclusion drawn over the past few days following the catastrophic earthquake in northwest Asia Minor was that a "great stock" of friendship existed between the Greek and Turkish peoples. Speaking from Rethymno on Crete, Mr. Papandreou said although the situation regarding relations between the two countries had not changed "in principle" and that problems remained, a conclusion could be drawn in the wake of the natural disaster, which h as claimed more than 12,000 lives so far. "The conclusion is that there is a stock, a great stock of friendship between our two peoples, and this gives rise to a perspective of peaceful co-existence. Let us hope that prospects for peace, cooperation and sincere friendship indeed emerge from the tragedy," he said. Athens was quick to send substantial humanitarian aid, medical supplies and rescue teams to Turkey in the aftermath of last Tuesday's earthquake. Turkish officials have publicly thanked Athens and most of the Turkish press praised Greece along with the other countries which responded to a call for assistance. Claims of 'secret contacts' denied Mr. Papandreou yesterday rejected claims of a "secret memorandum" regarding Greek-Turkish relations, contained in an article published in Sunday's edition of the Athens daily "To Vima". "First of all, Greece, as a democratic country, and I personally, exercise foreign policy in the most transparent, open and public manner. We believe that this is the way foreign policy should be exercised and the Greek people know our every move, parti cularly against the background of the recently initiated Greek-Turkish dialogue. There is no such text. Courtesy calls between ambassadors will always be made and must be made, but there is no text, no memorandum," Mr. Papandreou said. Gov't on Greece's veto on funds to Turkey Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said yesterday it was "too early" to talk about the lifting of Greece's veto over the release of European Union funds to Turkey, stressing that Athens' positive stance in sending quake relief to the neighbouring country should not be linked to the issue. Greece, the spokesman said, will play a leading role in the providing of EU assistance to Turkey if the issue was discussed by the "15". Mr. Reppas added that the government and Greek people had done whatever they could to relieve the suffering of the Turkish people and would continue to do so with the same vigour. Regarding the "Vima" article, Mr. Reppas said Greek ambassador Lucas Tsilas had met in Brussels with a Turkish ambassador and discussed various issues. "This is nothing new. There was simply an exchange of views on Greek- Turkish relations and there was no exchange of any kind of memorandum," Mr. Reppas said. Finally, a parliamentary delegation is due to leave for Turkey today with a shipment of humanitarian aid for quake victims. The five-member delegation, made up of deputies from the ruling PASOK party, main opposition New Democracy party and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), will fly to Turkey on an Hellenic Air Force aircraft. The aid, comprising medical and sanitary supplies, was gathered on the initiative of Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis. Stocks succumb to profit-taking, end lower Equity prices succumbed to profit-taking to end moderately lower on Tuesday but the general index remained above the 5,000 historic level which broke the previous day. Dealers said investors preferred to take profits in smaller capitalisation stocks, which seemed more riskier, while buying interest turned to blue chips in the banking sector. The general index ended 0.20 percent lower at 5,056.49 points, sharply off its intra-day highs of 5,172 points. Turnover was 304.997 billion drachmas with 40,086,276 shares changing hands. Sector indices ended as follows: Banks (+2.12 pct), Leasing (-6.82 pct), Insurance (-1.01 pct), Investment (-1.66 pct), Construction (-1.50 pct), Industrials (-2.68 pct), Miscellaneous (-4.22 pct) and Holding (-1.32 pct). The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks fell 0.46 percent while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.99 percent higher at 2,779.34 points. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 189 to 104 with another five issues unchanged. A total of 24 issues ended at the day's 8.0 percent limit up, while another four ended at the day's limit down. Ergo Invest and Hellenic Telecoms were the most heavily traded stocks, while National Bank, Alpha Credit Bank, Piraeus Bank and Hellenic Technodomiki led the day's turnover. National Bank of Greece ended at 23,500 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 23, 700, Commercial Bank at 27,950, Titan Cement at 35,800, Hellenic Petroleum at 3,000, Intracom at 23,600, Minoan Lines at 7,330, Panafon at 8,645 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,600. Gov't policy in 2000 aims at euro zone entry Economic policy in the year 2000 will focus on the country's bid to join economic and monetary union while offering as much assistance as possible to weaker social groups and priority areas including education and health. The announcement was made after a meeting of senior government officials yesterday chaired by National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou. The officials discussed the economy in detail ahead of final proposals to be made on changes in taxation and next year's budget, due to be submitted to parliament in October. The officials said that the inflation criterion to be met for euro zone entry was critical due to rising oil prices and lasting economic stagnation in the European Union. Ministry sources said that the government's economic leaders appeared to agree on the need to lower heating oil prices in October in order to aid the drive to contain inflation. New Egnatia Bank makes trading debut Thursday The new Egnatia Bank to be created after a merger of the old Egnatia and Bank of Central Greece will make its trading debut on the main market of the Athens bourse on Thursday. Egnatia Bank plans to open eight new branches this year as part of a policy to widen its activities. It also plans to expand into Balkan markets and break into new sectors including leasing. Management hopes to fund the investment plans through a share capital rise of 30 billion drachmas in September. Intracom gets Argentina deal Intracom, a blue chip telecommunications and information systems manufacturer, is to supply Argentina's state telecom with a pilot digital subscriber radio transmission system (FQUAD network) for an initial 220,000 US dollars. The contract with Telecom De Argentina was forged after Intracom won an international contract, the Greek firm said in a statement yesterday. The project's budget may to rise to around 6.0 million dollars by next year, depending on evaluation of the pilot arrangement. The system, which was designed and manufactured by Intracom, has already been exported abroad, the statement said. Chipita posts H1 profit rise Chipita International SA, a listed manufacturer of packaged snacks, yesterday reported net pre-tax profits of 1.455 billion drachmas in the first half, up 28.5 percent on the same period of last year, it said yesterday. Sales in the same period rose by 28 .2 percent to 19.664 billion drachmas, the company said in a statement. Contributing favourably to results were Chipita's subsidiaries in Bulgaria and Poland. Also performing well were companies in Egypt and Portugal in which Chipita has minority holdings . Their profits do not appear in Chipita's consolidated results. WEATHERSunny weather with a further drop in temperatures will prevail in the Ionian, eastern Aegean Sea and the Dodecanese islands today. Local cloud in the rest of the country with sporadic rain mainly in Thessaly, eastern central Greece and eastern Peloponnese. Scattered cloud with the possibility of showers in Athens and temperatures between 22-31C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 19-27C.FOREIGN EXCHANGETuesday's rates (buying) U.S. dollar 304.633 Pound sterling 491.734 Japanese yen (100) 274.467 French franc 49.386 German mark 165.631 Italian lira (100) 16.730 Irish Punt 411.329 Belgian franc 8.030 Finnish mark 54.484 Dutch guilder 147.001 Danish kr. 43.581 Austrian sch. 23.532 Spanish peseta 1.947 Swedish kr. 36.914 Norwegian kr. 39.194 Swiss franc 202.800 Port. Escudo 1.616 Can. dollar 203.757 Aus. dollar 194.288 Cyprus pound 560.361 Euro 323.948(S.S.) Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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