Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-11-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] 41st Thessaloniki Film Festival

[02] Simitis-Reppas-Tsohatzopoulos

[03] Ukraine-FM Papandreou-Visit

[04] Soccer-National Division-Result

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

[06] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[07] Greece - Yugoslavia - Trade - Energy

[08] IPS-CosmoRom-supply deal

[09] Greece-tax evasion

[10] ASE-close

[11] Plaisio Computers-Microsoft

[12] Greece-foreign exchange

[01] 41st Thessaloniki Film Festival

One hundred and sixty seven films will be screened at the 41st Thessaloniki Film Festival, which will begin on Friday in the northern Greek city, festival Director Michel Dimopoulos said on Monday during a press conference.

The cost of the festival totalled 500 million drachmas, funded 50 per cent by the ministry of culture and 50 per cent by private sponsors.

Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos, winner of the Cannes film festival award in 1998, will be honoured during the feastival with the screening of 14 of his movies along with nine ?making of? behind the scenes documentaries of his techniques.

[02] Simitis-Reppas-Tsohatzopoulos

The alignment of the ruling PASOK party with the new social, political and ideological environment does not constitute a change in the form of the party or a discount of certain never changing truths, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said on Monday.

Speaking to a group of PASOK party deputies he received, Simitis said that this alignment was a ?continual necessity in efforts to express a majority of Greek citizens and to respond to the aspirations of the Greek people".

The premier's statements were made in light of Sundays interview in the ?Vima? newspaper by Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos who seemed to distance himself from current government policy choices, warning that his attitude within the government could no longer be taken for granted.

In the interview, Tsohatzopoulos did not hesitate in assuming responsibility on the policy which has been implemented until the April 9 parliamentary elections, which he viewed as a turning point.

[03] Ukraine-FM Papandreou-Visit

KIEV (ANA - D. Konstantakopoulos) - Foreign Minister George Papandreou signed three agreements with the Ukraine on the avoidance of double taxation, cooperation in the Merchant Marine sector and on customs cooperation on Monday at the beginning of his official two-day visit to the country.

Papandreou, who held talks with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Victor Lusenko and Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko, also praised the contributrion of Ukraine Greeks both to the history of Hellenism and the Ukraine.

Both Papandreou and Zlenko stressed that great possibilities for economic cooperation between Greece and the Ukraine exist which have not been utilised so far.

Trade exchanges between the two countries amounted to 174 million dollars last year, while during the first half of the current year they totalled 63 million.

[04] Soccer-National Division-Result

Ionikos Athens beat Panahaiki Patras 3-2 away on Monday and moved to 9th place with seven points in the 16-team division.

The match concluded the fifth round of the championship.

Panahaiki is in 10th place with four points.

Standings, points after five rounds: Olympiakos 13, Panathinaikos 11, AEK, Aris 10, Xanthi 9, PAOK, Ethnikos Asteras, Iraklis 8, Ionikos 7, Panahaiki, PAS Ioannina, Panionios 4, Athinaikos, Kalamata 3, Paniliakos, OFI 2.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

Indicative rates released by the central bank for the next working day.

Tuesday's rates (buying)

Euro 337.290

U.S. dollar 388.894

German mark 172.453

French franc 051.419

Pound sterling 562.424

Irish punt 428.270

Belgian franc 008.361

Luxembourg franc 008.361

Dutch guilder 153.056

Italian lira (100) 017.420

Austrian schilling 024.511

Danish kroner 045.271

Swedish kroner 039.355

Finnish mark 056.729

Spanish peseta 002.028

Portuguese escudo 001.682

Japanese yen (100) 363.062

Swiss franc 221.152

Norwegian kroner 042.275

Cyprus pound 588.653

Canadian dollar 253.416

Australian dollar 204.908

[06] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Tuesday, with showers in the northwest. Limited visibility early in the morning. Winds southerly, moderate to very strong. Temperatures in the north will range from 10C to 20C; in the west from 13C to 22C; and in the rest of the country from 12C to 25C. Partly cloudy in Athens with temperatures between 15C and 25C. Showers likely in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 13C to 20C.

[07] Greece - Yugoslavia - Trade - Energy

BELGRADE (ANA M. Mouratidis) Greeces development minister arrived here on Monday for a series of contacts with federal Yugoslav and Serbian republic officials as well as with local business leaders.

Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis is expected to discussed issues involving bilateral trade, energy, tourism, industry and technology.

He was scheduled to meet with new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica in the afternoon as well as the countrys energy minister.

Christodoulakis noted that Yugoslavia has urgent needs in the energy sector, particularly electricity and crude oil shipments. He also noted that Greece is interested in signing agreements to cover those needs as well as to erase a $20-million debt owed to Greeces state-run power utility (DEH) and $10 million owed to the countrys state-run refineries (EL.PE).

Yugoslav officials pointed particularly to tourism-related deals.

[08] IPS-CosmoRom-supply deal

Inform Processing Services (IPS), a member of Inform Lycos Group, announced a deal with Romania's mobile telephone operator CosmoRom for the supply of pre-paid telephone cards.

The deal paves the way for IPS's export drive in the Balkan region.

[09] Greece-tax evasion

An average of 12.2 percent of Greek businesses are tax evasing, according to a report by the Financial Crimes Squad drafted on inspection figures during the January-September 2000 period.

The report said that the Financial Crimes Squad has found 15.625 cases of extensive tax evasion in a total of 128,142 inspections made in the first nine months of the year, or 12.2 percent.

Tax evasion rates in the production subsidies and the manufacturing sectors totalled 66.7 percent, 50 percent in inventory, 40 percent in non-profit agencies, 36.4 percent in copyright, 29 percent in entertainment and 24.4 percent in tourist services.

[10] ASE-close

Equity prices ended the first trading session of the week sharply lower on the Athens Stock Exchange, with the Greek market unable to follow European bourses' upward trend.

Traders said turnover fell to the lowest levels since August 7, 1998, reflecting dissapointment among investors over a new jump in the inflation rate in October, a development raising hurdles in a Bank of Greece's effort to lower interest rates in the country.

Hellenic Telecoms' share price fell to year-lows.

The general index ended 1.70 percent lower at 3,727.49 points, with turnover a low 32.12 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.87 percent lower at 2,153.79 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index eased 0.69 percent to 447.46 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 1.76 percent lower at 403.13 points.

[11] Plaisio Computers-Microsoft

Plaisio Computers, a listed Greek software and hardware company, on Monday announced a commercial deal with Microsoft.

Under the deal, Plaisio Computers will be able to offer its clients Microsoft's latest operational systems (Windows 2000, Millennium Edition) simultaneously with all other major computer manufacturers around the world.

The company is expected to complete a share capital increase plan, worth 4.0 billion drachmas, by November 12. The new capital will be used to fund its investment programme for the period 2000-2001.

[12] Greece-foreign exchange

A new ineffective intervention by the European Central Bank in international markets to support the euro currency on Monday, pushed the drachma lower against the US dollar in the domestic foreign exchange market.

The Greek currency fell to 392.030 drachmas per dollar at Monday's fixing, up from 389.450 drachmas on Friday.

The drachma was weaker against the single European currency at 340.010 drachmas per euro, up from 339.890 on Friday.

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