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Sunday, 22 December 2024
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-05-23Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM visits Prespes, pledges support for farmersVisiting the region of Prespes during a tour of northern Greece on Friday, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis pledged the government's unstinting support for farmers as he inaugurated a bean processing plant built by the local agricultural cooperative Pelekanos. The prime minister was received on his arrival by local residents dressed in the traditional garb of the area. He was accompanied by Agricultural Development Minister Alexandros Kontos and Macedonia-Thrace Minister Margaritis Tzimas. Prespes Mayor Lazaros Nalpantidis stressed that the new unit would give a new breath of life to this outlying region in the Florina prefecture and declared Karamanlis an honorary citizen of the Prespes Municipality.Opening the new plant, which was built after bean producers in Prespes had faced acute problems selling their product about five years ago, Karamanlis praised the initiative as the way of the future. "Your cooperative, without a hint of exaggeration, is showing the path that we all need to follow - the path for all those that truly care, and not just in words, about the future of the agricultural sector in our country," Karamanlis stressed. "You have proved through your actions, through your works, that the only way to give a convincing answer to the challenges of today and of tomorrow is to change our views, change our mindset, change our practices. To leave the past firmly behind us. To believe in our strength. To face up to the problems," he added. The government's goal was to help young people stay in the countryside, especially in outlying or remote regions like islands or mountains, Karamanlis said. He emphasised that Greece's comparative advantage in the current, competitive environment was to ensure the production of high quality, safe products that were a top priority for consumers throughout the world. "Investment in quality is a one-way street, in order for Greek products to acquire a dominant position in international markets. We believe that we can turn this into action," the premier said. PASOK on PM's tour In comments on the prime minister's tour of northern Greece, meanwhile, main opposition PASOK spokesman George Papaconstantinou noted that it came a little late but was encouraging for dissatisfied regional communities. He pointed out that the 424 Hospital in Thessaloniki inaugurated by Karamanlis on Friday had been planned and set in motion by PASOK governments, while he questioned whether a visit to an agricultural cooperative's processing plant would "give the premier an opportunity to deal with the problems of the agricultural sector in our country". Caption: File photo of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. [02] PASOK leader meets Serbian Socialist Party leaderMain opposition PASOK party leader and Socialist International President George Papandreou hosted a working luncheon in Athens on Friday for Serbian Socialist Party leader Ivica Dancic and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. Papandreou said that he and the Luxembourg minister and the Serbian political leader discussed the prospects of the Serbian party's accession to the Socialist International, as well as developments in Serbia regarding "its European course and the possibility of shaping a government that will pave the paths to Europe but, in parallel, with the guarantees of Europe itself towards Serbia for the support of this process, as well as support for the European Balkans that, unfortunately, the European Union has delayed in past years."The PASOK leader further said that the EU has delayed, "despite the efforts we had made at the time, in 2003 in Thessaloniki ... to fully integrate the Balkans into the European Union. We must provide strength and vitality for this course again ... Serbia's course towards Europe will also play a decisive role," he said. Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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