Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-02-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek wines to be presented in the US

[02] Titan Cement Co.-Results

[03] Aluminium de Grece-Results

[04] Portuguese premier to meet Simitis in Athens Monday

[05] Greek, Bulgarian and Turkish FMs to meet on March 5

[06] Greek foreign ministry officials - Ankara

[07] India - Prospects - Seminar

[08] Alpha Credit Bank-share split

[09] Bond auction-schedule

[10] Bitros-1999 results

[11] ASE-close

[12] Panafon-new services

[13] Stephanopoulos - Israel - May

[14] Papantoniou-Diamantopoulou meeting

[01] Greek wines to be presented in the US

NEW YORK (ANA/M. Georgiadou) - Greece will participate in the second Grand European Wine Tasting event at a hotel in Manhattan on March 1, together with the other wine-producing countries of Europe - Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus.

The event will be organised by the European Wine Council, a non-profit organisation aiming at promoting European wines in the US.

[02] Titan Cement Co.-Results

Titan Cement Company SA, a blue chip on the Athens bourse, on Friday reported that pre-tax profits in 1999 rose to 30.5 billion drachmas, up 10 percent on a year earlier.

Sales edged up 4.4 percent to 107.1 billion drachmas, the company said in a statement.

[03] Aluminium de Grece-Results

Aluminium de Grece, a subsidiary of France's Pechiney, on Friday announced that its pre-tax profit in 1999 dropped to 21.3 million US dollars from 36.4 million dollars a year earlier.

Turnover dropped by 7.0 percent to 332 million dollars, the company said in a statement.

[04] Portuguese premier to meet Simitis in Athens Monday

Portuguese Prime Minister and European Council President Antonio Guteres will visit Athens on Monday for talks with his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis as part of his tour of capitals in light of the special Lisbon summit on March 23-24.

Guteres will attend a luncheon given in his honour by Simitis at noon on Monday, while official talks between delegations of the two countries are expected to get underway afterwards.

Portuguese Foreign Minister and President of the EU's Council of Ministers Jaime Gama will arrive in Athens on March 13 and then visit Ankara the next day.

Diplomatic sources at the foreign ministry did not rule out the possibility of a statement being made at the Lisbon special summit on Greece's accession to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

[05] Greek, Bulgarian and Turkish FMs to meet on March 5

The foreign ministers of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey will meet on March 5 in the framework of a new tripartite cooperation agreed between the three countries, Greek diplomatic sources said on Friday.

Foreign Mnisters of Greece George Papandreou, Bulgaria Nadezda Mikhailova and Turkey Ismail Cem will be visiting the towns of Plovdiv, Edirne and Orestiada in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece respectively.

The meeting was scheduled for February 19 but it was postponed for technical reasons.

In another development, a ministerial meeting regarding tripartite cooperation between Greece, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will take place in Korce and Ohrid on March 8.

[06] Greek foreign ministry officials - Ankara

A five-member delegation of senior foreign ministry officials, headed by Foreign Affairs Secretary General Stelios Perrakis, will visit Ankara on Sunday for talks with Turkish foreign ministry officials on granting European Union know-how to Turkey and Greece's contribution to Turkey's adjustment course towards European established practice.

The talks, due to start on Monday, will be based to a great degree on the non paper Foreign Minister George Papandreou delivered to his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem during the latter's official visit to Athens earlier this month.

The non paper includes ideas and proposals on granting know-how to Turkey and the transfer of Greek expertise on adjustment to European established practice on such issues as the environment, justice, domestic affairs and cooperation between customs authorities.

[07] India - Prospects - Seminar

India¢s prospects in the 21st century were the focus of a Thursday seminar in the Greek capital by the Athens-based Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER) -- part of the Asia-2000 series.

Among the speakers were Ishwar Prasad, Minister of the Embassy of India, who was joined by foreign correspondent Nawab Khan and ?Kathimerini? journalist Giorgos Kapopoulos.

?I look upon Greece as primarily European in character with an eastern, in thinking, approach. India knew Greece socially, philosophically and culturally for ages?For Indians, Greece looks far away, though, as visas are difficult to obtain,? Prasad told an audience at a downtown Athens hall.

?Greece has granted only 4,400 visas a year to India, a relatively small number,? he added.

In terms of bilateral economic relations, figures pointed to a distinct trade imbalance, as Greek exports to India totalled only about 10 million dollars in 1998, as opposed to imports from the south Asian country of roughly 110 million dollars. In addition, the gap has tripled since 1994, speakers noted.

Computer software and hardware was cited as a major Indian export to Greece, while Prassad said the transfer of aquaculture technology could work well in his country.

The Asia 2000 programme, which organised the seminar, focuses on meeting the ever-widening ?information gap? related to the dynamic markets of Asia, as well as to support the development of Asian studies in Greece. Upcoming seminars will focus on Japan, South Korea, India and the SE Asian states.

The Institute was founded by the Greek Association of SA and Ltd. firms in 1993.

[08] Alpha Credit Bank-share split

Alpha Credit Bank plans an one-for-two share split through the capitalisation of part of its reserves.

The plan is expected to be proposed by the bank's board during a forthcoming annual general shareholders' meeting, due March 28.

Yiannis Costopoulos, Alpha Credit's chairman, is expected to present the bank's 1999 results and the course towards merging Alpha Credit with Ionian Bank at a news conference next Tuesday.

The bank's profits are expected to reach 145 billion drachmas, up 60 percent from 1998, while group profits are estimated to exceed 260 billion drachmas, more than double its 1998 figures.

Alpha Credit also plans to pay a 440 drachmas per share dividend to shareholders.

Alpha Credit Bank is the second biggest commercial bank in Greece with a market share of 19.5 percent, based on its assets.

[09] Bond auction-schedule

Greece's finance ministry on Friday said it will auction three issues of paperless state bills, worth 90 billion drachmas, next Tuesday, February 29.

The auction includes a 12-month T-bill issue, worth 40 billion drachmas, a six-month issue, worth 25 billion and a three-month issue worth 25 billion drachmas.

All issues have an issue and settlement date of Friday, 3 March 2000. The ministry has set commissions of 0.45 pct for the 12-month issue, 0.25 pct for the six-month and 0.15 pct for the three-month issue.

The ministry also announced a public offering for a new issue of tax-free savings bonds, March 1-3.

The ministry has sold more than one trillion drachmas worth in this category of state securities.

[10] Bitros-1999 results

Bitros AEBE, a Greek listed metallurgical company, on Friday announced a 185 percent jump in its 1999 profits compared with the previous year, while its total net results increased 14.2 percent.

Pre-tax profits totalled 1.089 billion drachmas, with the metallurgical sector's profits accounting for 962 million. The company had reported profits of 954 million drachmas in 1998, of which 338 were from its metallurgical activities while the remaining 616 million came from its real estate company.

Turnover fell 2.9 percent to 19.421 billion drachmas, while the volume of sales rose 10 percent.

Its board expects group sales to exceed 30 billion drachmas and net profits to reach 2.2 billion drachmas.

Bitros plans to pay a 50 drachmas per share dividend to shareholders, up from 29 drachmas in 1998.

[11] ASE-close

Equity prices ended the last trading session of a negative week lower on the Athens Stock Exchange as investors preferred to take early profits following Thursday's spectacular rebound.

Dealers said losses in international stock markets depressed sentiment.

The general index ended at 5,203 points, off 0.60 percent. It started the session with gains of up to 1.10 percent to fall later below the 5,200 level.

Turnover was a low 189.07 billion drachmas.

Shares in the Insurance sector resisted pressures to score gains.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.39 percent lower at 2,848.59 points, while the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 0.33 percent to 842.02 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 1,287.00 points, off 0.41 percent.

[12] Panafon-new services

Panafon announced on Friday it was launching a new company, Panafon Services, with the aim to provide integrated services to its customers and to promote new advanced technology IT products and services.

A Panafon statement said that the new company would merge all its customer services and commercial partners and would help to achieve scale economy. Panafon Services will focus on promoting existing and new IT products in Greece and abroad.

[13] Stephanopoulos - Israel - May

Greek President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos will pay an official visit to Israel in May, tentatively set for around May 15, it was announced from Thessaloniki on Friday.

The announcement comes on the heels of a one-day seminar in the northern Greek port city regarding Greek-Israeli relations, organised by the Institute of Defence Analysis with participation of experts from both countries.

The trip will mark the first time a Greek head of state has officially visited the Middle Eastern country since its founding, and is expected to underline the excellent relations enjoyed between the two countries.

[14] Papantoniou-Diamantopoulou meeting

Every school in the European Union and Greece in particular should be supplied with computers by the year 2002 and every pupil should have its own computer, National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou told reporters after a meeting with EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou on Friday.

"It is a very ambitious target that it must be achieved because we have entered a new era," Papantoniou said.

During the meeting, Papantoniou briefed the EU Commissioner over the country's EMU entry application procedures while Diamantopoulou briefed National Economy Minister over issues relating to the EU social fund.

Papantoniou said that Greece would spend 3.2 trillion drachmas in a programme to upgrade the country's workforce and expressed the hope that negotiations would have been completed by May.

Diamantopoulou said that the next EU summit in Lisbon would be significantly important because the Commission and EU leaders would seek to set indices on the use of Internet and computers by small and medium-sized enterprises.

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