Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-12-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Simitis outlines Greek EU presidency priorities to Europarl't

[02] Cyprus President sends message of thanks to Greek Parliament President

[03] President's message to overseas Greeks for the holidays

[04] Greece's first participation at Istanbul Book Fair crowned with success

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[06] Weather Forecast: Snow, sleet expected on Saturday

[07] Food industry agrees to keep prices in line with inflation

[08] Central bank says few fake euro notes in circulation

[09] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks drop in lacklustre trade

[10] Weather Forecast: Snow expected in many areas on Friday

[11] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[12] Athens confirms receiving Annan letter on Cyprus problem

[01] PM Simitis outlines Greek EU presidency priorities to Europarl't president Cox

Greece's priorities for its EU presidency in the first half of 2003 were outlined Friday by prime minister Costas Simitis in an informal meeting in Athens with visiting European Parliament president Pat Cox, who is head a delegation of the presidents of the Europarliament's parliamentary groups.

The priorities set out by Simitis were enlargement, followed by economic growth and stability, control of immigration and combatting illegal immigration, preparing the Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) on the new structure of Europe, the EU's common defence and security policy and common foreign policy, and commitments on the environment based on the results of the Johannesburg conference.

Simitis said that the enlargement processes needed to be completed and the Accession Acts of the 10 new EU members needed to be drafted during the Greek EU presidency.

On common foreign policy, Simitis placed emphasis on the Balkans where, he said, ethnicism, poverty and underdevelopment continued to prevail.

Simitis also touched on the matter of cooperation with the Europarliament, an issue also brought up by Cox, who also said, inter alia, that Turkey had failed to play the constructive role played by Cyprus president Glafcos Clerides with respect to UN secretary general Kofi Annan's plan.

[02] Cyprus President sends message of thanks to Greek Parliament President

Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides on Friday sent a telegram to Greek Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis in which he thanked Greece for its help and support in Cyprus' struggle for the achievement of a viable and comprehensive settlement of the political problem of the island republic.

In his message to Kaklamanis, on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year, Clerides conveyed the warmest wishes of the Cypriot people and government for health and happiness.

President Clerides expressed the thanks of the Cypriot government and people to Kaklamanis, the Greek Parliament and the Greek people ''for your help and support in our struggle for a viable settlement of the Cyprus problem.''

The Cypriot president thanked the Greek parliament in particular for ''the invaluable help it offered'' in Cyprus' accession to the European Union becoming a reality.

Concluding, Clerides expressed his best wishes ''for the stable progress and prosperity of the Greek people and for your personal health and happiness.''

[03] President's message to overseas Greeks for the holidays

In a message to overseas Greeks for the holidays and the New Year, President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on Friday stressed the need for Greece and Greek communities abroad to maintain the bonds between them so that Hellenism could rally all its forces in order to successfully deal with the contemporary challenges faced by the country.

He highlighted the upcoming Greek presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2003, during which Cyprus would also join the Community and the Olympics to be held in Athens the following year, and called for continued efforts to preserve the Greek language, promote contemporary Greece and teach Greek history to the younger generations.

[04] Greece's first participation at Istanbul Book Fair crowned with success

Greece's participation for the first time at the International Istanbul Book Fair was successful given that many Greeks and Turks visited the Greek pavilion.

Particular reference was made by the book Fair's officials on the International Scripta Book Fair which will be held in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, in May, 2003.

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos has announced that the Scripta book fair will place emphasis on publication products from southeastern European countries.

On the sidelines of the Istanbul Book Fair, which ended on Friday, a round-table discussion was held on Monday between Greek and Turkish publishers on the theme ''Peace and Communication''. The meeting aimed at developing cooperation and mutual promotion of the two countries' books on the market.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.033

Pound sterling 0.645

Danish kroner 7.484

Swedish kroner 9.170

Japanese yen 124.7

Swiss franc 1.473

Norwegian kroner 7.345

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.602

Australian dollar 1.829

[06] Weather Forecast: Snow, sleet expected on Saturday

Light snowfall or sleet is forecast in the eastern central mainland, Evia, the eastern Peloponnese, the Cyclades and Crete, with the rest of the country remaining fine. Ice is expected on the mainland in the morning. Winds north-northeasterly, light to strong, turning gale force in the southern Aegean. In the north and centre, temperatures will range from -05C to 04C; in the west from 03C to 12C; and in the rest of the country from 04C to 09C. Temperatures in Athens between 02C and 07C, with snow likely mainly in northern Attica in the morning. Temperatures in Thessaloniki from -02C to 05C.

[07] Food industry agrees to keep prices in line with inflation

Food industries have agreed to keep their prices in line with inflation, ministry sources said on Friday.

The pact followed talks between the Association of Food Industries and Deputy Development Minister Christos Theodorou, the sources said.

They added that the companies had also agreed to try to refrain from a second round of hikes in 2003.

[08] Central bank says few fake euro notes in circulation

The Bank of Greece said on Friday that relatively few counterfeit euro notes were circulating in Greece and other eurozone countries.

The number of fake notes found domestically was much smaller than drachma forgeries in the past, the Bank of Greece said in a statement.

In 2001, 44 counterfeit drachma notes had been discovered among a million notes, and in 2002 six euro forgeries in a million.

Data from the European Central Bank showed a similar proportion of fake notes in other eurozone states, the statement added.

[09] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks drop in lacklustre trade

The Athens bourse finished lower on Friday in dull trade.

The general share index shed 0.49 percent to end at 1,791.7 points. Turnover was 107.0 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.52 percent down; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 0.83 percent lower; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished 0.75 percent down.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 230 to 70 with 53 issues remaining unchanged.

The Athens general share index finished 1.57 percent down on the week.

[10] Weather Forecast: Snow expected in many areas on Friday

Snow is forecast in many parts of the country with the remainder remaining fine. Set for snow are the north, Thessaly, the eastern central mainland, Evia, the eastern Peloponnese, the Cyclades and Crete. Winds north-northeasterly, strong to gale force. In the north and centre, temperatures will range from -03C to 04C; in the west from 03C to 11C; and in the rest of the country from 01C to 09C. Temperatures in Athens between 03C and 05C, with snow or sleet expected mainlyin northern Attica in the morning; and in Thessaloniki from -01C to 04C.

[11] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.035

Pound sterling 0.645

Danish kroner 7.484

Swedish kroner 9.169

Japanese yen 124.8

Swiss franc 1.475

Norwegian kroner 7.343

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.609

Australian dollar 1.831

[12] Athens confirms receiving Annan letter on Cyprus problem

The Greek government on Thursday confirmed that it had received a letter sent to all four sides in the Cyprus problem by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, in which the UN chief said that a final settlement for solving the Cyprus problem was possible by February 28.

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas said that similar letters had also been sent to Turkey and the two communities on Cyprus.

Expressing his sorrow that the failure of previous efforts for a solution and his desire to intensify the effort in the near future, Annan says that the last set of proposals submitted by the UN on December 10 still stand as a basis for negotiations that would allow Cyprus to join the EU reunited.

The UN chief also called for two technical committees for Cyprus to be immediately activated and announced a visit to Athens and Ankara on January 8 by UN special envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto. The UN envoy would then travel to Nicosia to coordinate negotiations.

The spokesman commented on apparent ''double talk'' coming out of Turkey with respect to Cyprus' EU accession, especially statements by the Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday that effectively did not ''recognise'' an EU decision to admit the island republic, and urged Turkey to support negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus problem rather than ''presenting unfounded claims''.

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