Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-07-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM makes preparations for TIF a top priority

[02] International socialist youth union festival dedicated to equality

[03] Deputy minister takes potato, cheese traders to court (ADDS)

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Friday

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks nose up on earnings jitters

[01] PM makes preparations for TIF a top priority

Prime Minister Costas Simitis has instructed government ministers to speed up all preparations for the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) in September, placing strong emphasis on the need to complete all government programmes related to the northern Greek city before that time, sources said on Thursday.

Addressing a ministerial meeting focusing on preparations for TIF held immediately after the regular Thursday meeting of the cabinet, Simitis asked the ministers involved to supply specific figures and speed up all projects involving public works, health, employment and public transport for Thessaloniki, including preparations for the EXPO fair that will be hosted by the city in 2008.

It has become an established tradition for Greek prime ministers to deliver an annual speech during the Thessaloniki trade fair each September that outlines and sets the tone for the economic policy that the government intends to follow in the coming year.

[02] International socialist youth union festival dedicated to equality

The International Union of Socialist Youth's (IUSY) world festival, organised by the ruling socialist PASOK party's youth wing in Kamena Vourla, was dedicated to equality on Thursday.

''Socialist forces, and particularly those exercising power, are engrossed in seeking solutions to day-to-day problems and have forgotten that socialism is a revolution,'' said Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou in her address.

She referred to economic inequalities between north and south and, after noting that only seven percent of stock exchange transactions all over the world concern the movement of products, spoke of unequal development between north and south.

The minister also stressed the need for the socialists' initiatives at international organisations to be strengthened for the creation of conditions enabling the handling of problems, primarily of the south.

Foreign Minister George Papandreou will be the main speaker on Friday, who will be attending a round table discussion at the festival on ''policies for international peace.''

The festival's activities are continuing with the participation of thousands of young people from all over the world.

[03] Deputy minister takes potato, cheese traders to court (ADDS)

Deputy Development Minister Kimon Koulouris has taken two traders to court as part of a government drive to curb profiteering and misleading advertising.

Due to hear a prosecutor's charges are wholesaler Spyros & Ioannis Marmarinos for allegedly selling imported potatoes from Italy at 30 percent above market prices; and cheese manufacturer Kolios SA for advertising white cheese as feta on its website, misleading the public.

Later in the day, management of Kolios said the error in identifying the white cow cheese had appeared in the German section of its website, although an accompanying photo of the product was correctly named.

The error had been found eight days after entering the website, and it was corrected immediately, the firm said in a statement.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.155

Pound sterling 0.717

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.271

Japanese yen 137.5

Swiss franc 1.561

Norwegian kroner 8.336

Cyprus pound 0.592

Canadian dollar 1.613

Australian dollar 1.742

[05] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Friday

Sunshine is forecast in all parts of the country, with cloud building up in the centre and north from late afternoon, and isolated storms likely in the north. Winds northerly, light to moderate. On the northern mainland, temperatures will range from 19C to 34C; on the rest of the mainland from 21C to 37C; and in the islands from 23C to 35C. Temperatures in Athens between 24C and 36C; and in Thessaloniki from 22 to 34C.

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks nose up on earnings jitters

The Athens bourse finished higher on Thursday in volatile trade stemming from jitters over National Bank of Greece's first half earnings, traders said.

The general share index gained 0.14 percent to end at 2,079.54 points. Turnover was 167.3 million euros.

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 0.05 percent up; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 0.17 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities finished with gains of 0.08 percent.

Of stocks traded, declines led advances at 169 to 144 with 54 issues remaining unchanged.

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