Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-05-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece-Balkan Reconstruction

[02] Greece-Turkey-Egnatia Way

[03] Thessaloniki University-Yugoslavia-Highway

[04] Greece-Turkey-Banking

[05] Weather Forecast-Wednesday

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates-Wednesday

[07] Olympics - Simitis - Reshuffle (recasts)

[08] Slovakia - Greece - Schuster

[09] ADEX-close

[10] Bond auction-results

[11] Papantoniou-Papademos-economy

[12] Greek investment funds-April report

[13] ASE-close

[14] Olympics - Replacement - Angelopoulos

[01] Greece-Balkan Reconstruction

Deputy Development Minister Alexandros Kalafatis said on Tuesday that Greece's action plan to advance reconstruction in southeastern Europe would not solve the region's problems, but constituted a significant symbolic and practical step in that direction.

[02] Greece-Turkey-Egnatia Way

Extension of the Egnatia Way, a key road being built to link the country's northeast and northwest, to Istanbul will go ahead as scheduled with only detailed engineering needed to complete the project, a government official said on Tuesday.

[03] Thessaloniki University-Yugoslavia-Highway

The Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki is due to produce by August 2001 an inventory of damage to a key highway passing through Yugoslavia that was destroyed in NATO airstrikes against the Balkan country last year, a government official said on Tuesday.

The project being undertaken by the university would also include an assessment of reconstruction needed for the central road and railway, formerly Greece's main link to the rest of the European Union, Transport Ministry Secretary General Yiannis Maniatis said.

[04] Greece-Turkey-Banking

Greek and Turkish banks should pursue cooperation in the wake of rapprochement between the two countries, Agricultural Bank of Greece deputy governor Dimitris Santixis said on Tuesday.

[05] Weather Forecast-Wednesday

Mostly sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Wednesday, turning to scattered cloud on the mainland from late afternoon.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates-Wednesday

Following are indicative foreign exchange rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Wednesday's rates (buying)

Euro 333.491

U.S. dollar 372.387

German mark 170.511

[07] Olympics - Simitis - Reshuffle (recasts)

The Greek government on Tuesday replaced the president of the Athens 2004 organising committee with the prominent figure that spearheaded the 1997 campaign to bring the Olympics to the Greek capital in the first place.

The replacement, announced by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis during an expanded inter-ministerial meeting, comes after last months sharp criticism aimed at Greek organisers by powerful IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Former Parliament deputy from Crete and attorney Yianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the wife of a well-known local shipping magnate and industrialist, was appointed as 2004 president in place of Panayiotis Thomopoulos.

In late April, Samaranch had issued clear warnings to Greece that delays in several areas of Olympic preparations endangered the 2004 Games smooth running.

In addition, Simitis re-elected early last month to a new four-year term as prime minister added that he will ?personally oversee the national undertaking entailed in the 2004 Olympic Games.? Along those lines, the Greek PM said he will chair a newly established ?Olympic preparations coordinating committee? that will also include the Cabinets top ministers and the 2004 organising committees leadership, namely, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and managing director Costas Bakouris.

Without mincing his words, the Greek premier said one of the high-ranking government committees main tasks, besides strategic coordination and overseeing, will be to offer ?immediate solutions? to any problems related to the Games, a direct reference to the thick bureaucracy and ?red tape? the IOCs leadership has criticised in the past.

Simitis said his government would from now on treat the 2004 Olympics issue in the same urgent manner that it treated mobilisations and initiatives that followed a destructive Sept. 7 earthquake that struck the greater Athens area last year.

Finally, Simitis said Thomopoulos had tendered his resignation after the April 9 general elections.

IOCs Rogge in Athens

Simitis is scheduled to meet with visiting IOC Deputy President and the chairman of the international organisations coordinating committee for the 2004 Games, Jacques Rogge, in the afternoon.

According to reports, Greek Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Thomopoulos as well as Angelopoulos-Daskalaki will participate in the meeting with the latter to officially assume her duties on Monday.

[08] Slovakia - Greece - Schuster

Greeces Parliament president on Tuesday assured visiting Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster that the countrys legislature would support the central European nations inclusion in Euro-Atlantic alliances.

In receiving Schuster, Apostolos Kaklamanis thanked the Slovakian president for what he called Bratislavas standing support on the issue of Cyprus invasion and occupation.

Kaklamanis also added that the Greek parliament would ratify any EU-Slovakia pacts and bilateral agreements that come before its docket ?as soon as possible?.

Finally, Schuster invited Kaklamanis to visit his country.

Slovakias head of state was received by Greek leadership this week as part of an official visit to the Mediterranean country.

[09] ADEX-close

Derivatives prices continued moving higher on the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Tuesday reflecting medium-term optimism for the Greek market and despite a fall in the two benchmark indices, FTSE/ASE 20 and FTSE/ASE 40.

Turnover was a moderate 7.8 billion drachmas with volume at 2,368 contracts.

A total of 942 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index, worth 4.6 billion drachmas. The May expiring contract ended at 2,480 points, the June at 2,475.25 and the July contract at 2,483.25 points.

A total of 1,426 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, worth 3.2 billion drachmas. The May expiring contract ended at 595.75 points, the June at 589 and the July contract at 583.50 points.

[10] Bond auction-results

Long-term bond yields fell substantially during Tuesday's regular auction of state securities by the Public Debt Management Organisation.

The average weighed yield in a 20-year state bond, worth 200 billion drachmas and paying an annual coupon of 6.50 percent, fell to 6.37 percent from 6.46 percent in the previous auction of similar bonds.

Bids submitted by the market's primary dealers totalled 298.5 billion drachmas, 1-1/2 times more than the asked sum. The organisation finally accepted bids totalling 212 billion drachmas. The average weighed price of the issue was set at 101.358 points.

[11] Papantoniou-Papademos-economy

Interest rate cuts are highly unlikely in June and their adjustment - in the framework of EMU convergence - towards an EU average of 4.0 percent is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, Bank of Greece governor, Lucas Papademos said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, Papademos said that the rate of interest rate cuts would be in line with the inflation course in the current year.

The country's central bank remains cautious over inflation trends despite a fall in the yr/yr rate to 2.6 percent in April from 3.1 percent in March, because of the impact of a rising US dollar over the euro currency and the Greek drachma.

Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou reassured that no further measures were needed to combat inflation.

The Bank of Greece predicts that a recovery of the euro/dollar exchange rate is only a matter of time.

The central bank also dismissed talk of a realignment of the drachma's central parity against the euro ahead of the currency's participation in EMU.

[12] Greek investment funds-April report

Greek investment funds companies' net assets fell 120 billion drachmas in April from the previous month to 1.257 trillion drachmas, the Union of Institutional Investors said on Tuesday.

A report said that the investment funds market showed a mixed appearance in April with several company shares trading on a premium while others on a discount.

The Investment sector index on the Athens Stock Exchange fell 11.5 percent in April, in line with a 11.3 pct fall of the general index. It stands 35.6 percent down from the start of the year, against a 23.2 percent fall of the general index.

[13] ASE-close

A wave of profit taking selling pushed Greek equity prices lower on the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, reversing a two-day advance which saw the general index gaining 2.68 percent.

Dealers said it was a normal reaction of the market which seems to be resuming a more stable course.

The general index ended 0.47 percent lower at 4,454.01 points, off the day's highs of 4,491 and the day's lows of 4,433.72 points. Turnover was a moderate 125 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.70 percent down at 2,480.93 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 0.39 percent to 614.18 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 803.46 points, off 0.56 percent.

[14] Olympics - Replacement - Angelopoulos

The Greek government on Tuesday replaced the president of the Athens 2004 organising committee with the prominent figure that spearheaded the 1997 campaign to bring the Olympics to the Greek capital in the first place.

The replacement, announced by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis during an interministerial meeting, comes after last months unprecedented criticism aimed at Greek organisers by powerful IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Former Parliament deputy from Crete and attorney Yianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the wife of a well-known shipping entrepreneur, was appointed as 2004 president in place of Panayiotis Thomopoulos.

In late April, Samaranch had issued clear warnings to Greece that delays in several areas of Olympic preparations endangered the 2004 Games smooth running.

Simitis is scheduled to meet with visiting IOC Deputy President Jacques Rogge in the afternoon.

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