Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-05-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed by FinMin on US talks

[02] Climate Change conf'

[01] PM briefed by FinMin on US talks

"We had the opportunity to exchange views on the course of the global economy, given the big uncertainties in the global economy and more particularly in the US economy," Alogoskoufis told reporters after the meeting.

He said a major issue was international inflation, due to spiralling prices of oil, foods and raw materials.

Assessments were that everything that could be done to ameliorate the effects of the international turmoil has been done by the international authorities and by the US government, Alogoskoufis said, and stressed that Greece, too, has done everything necessary, adding that "naturally we will continue the effort for tackling the repercussions from international inflation, and for continous growth of our economy".

Alogoskoufis explained that it was very important to also mantain the developmental momentum of the Greek economy and continuation of the decline in unemployment "because what we ensured in the preceding years must continue, even in periods of international crisis".

The minister also announced that the full text of the agreement with Deutsche Telekoms regarding the National Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) would be tabled in parliament later in the day, adding that he would outline the contents of the agreement at a press conference afterwards. He said the agreement was "very significant" because it ensured the future of the utility in an intensely competitive environment in the telecoms sector in Europe in general.

With the agreement, he said, the positive results of the recent years -- with the reduction of prices, increased broadband penetration and techological upgrading of OTE -- would continue for the Greek consumers, while with the investments to be made OTE's role in the wider region would also be ensured.

Greece, he continued, was acquiring a powerful strategic ally in telecoms "with whom we will be able, in the coming years, to meet all the challenges that will arise in this sensitive area".

cAPTION:ANA-MPA file photo of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis

[02] Climate Change conf'

Greece's chairmanship, assumed in May 2007 at the 9th HSN Ministerial Meeting in Ljubljana, ends Friday, and the 11th Chairmanship will be decided that day at the 10th Ministerial Meeting in Athens.

Bakoyannis noted that the poorer countries, and chiefly the children and women living in those countries, were particularly vulnerable to climate changes.

For example, she said, the rise in global temperatures facilitates the geographical spread of malaria, which kills one million people each year, of which 80 percent are children up to five years old, according to UN figures, while women, who work hard in farming and at home, are more affected than men.

Another consequence of climate change on human security is the movement of populations, she said, noting that the UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that 24 million people around the world have relocated due to environmental factors.

Turning to the Greek foreign ministry's activities, and reviewing the Greek chairmanship of the Human Security Netowrk, Bakoyannis has turned the focus of Developmental Cooperation and Assistance to the relief of those populations, through enhancing their adaptation, and through the mass transfer of "green know-how" to the developing world.

The minister further noted that Greece, at European level and via its prime minister Costas Karamanlis, was one of the countries that openly endorsed a unilateral commitment on the part of the European Union to reduce pollutant emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020.

Stressing the need for International Cooperation -- addressing herself to the representatives of international organisations and foreign delegations present at the conference -- Bakoyannis warned that global warming cannot be faced by any country individually, and that achievement of a global agreement hoped to be reached at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009 irequired the participation and commitment of everyone.

Also addressing the meeting, Greek deputy minister of the environment Pavlos Kaloyannis assured that Greece would meet the targets set out by the Kyoto Protocol.

He also appealed for a change in attitude on the party of everyone, explaining that even small changes in our daily lives can, without altering the quality of life, result in tangible results in improvement of the environment.

Citizen awareness is necessary in order to change the ethos, he said. "As citizens of the planet, each and everyone of us must know our limits," Kaloyannis added.

World Meteoroligical Organisation (WMO, the UN authoritative agency on weather, climate and water resources) secretary general Michel Jarraud presented a series of charts and graphs showing the dramatic magnitude of climate change resulting from the melting of the Arctic ice pack in the space of just two years (2005-2007), and urged that the new climate date be utilised in the decision-taking.

Jarraud also wared that the early warning system on natural disasters was particularly utile, adding that if it had been used, the repercussions of many such disasters could have been curtailed or even completely avoided.

The WMO chief, too, appealed for international cooperation, stressing that no single country whatsoever could act alone.

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyanni (of Greece), outlined the initiatives taken by Greece during its year at the helm of the Human Security Network, adding that those initiatives "put Greece among the leading countries in the global mobilisation and global dialogue on this immense issue".

The morning session ended with an address by John Powell, deputy executive director of the UN's World Food Program (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian agency, which in 2007 alone provided food assistance to 73 million people in 78 countries, most of them women and children.

Caption: Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis address at the International Conference on"Climate Change and Human Security" in Athens on Thursday 29 May 2008. ANA-MPA/MARGARITA KIAOU

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