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Monday, 23 December 2024
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-11-25Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM to hold talks with Chinese presidentPrime Minister Costas Karamanlis will meet on Tuesday with visiting president of China Hu Jintao. After the conclusion of the talks, Karamanlis will be present at the signing of a landmark 35-year contract, worth 3.3 billion euros, awarding the Piraeus port container terminal's management to Cosco Pacific Ltd. The successful international tender to privatise the Piraeus terminal, amongst the most strategic in the east Mediterranean, ranks as one of the Greek government's biggest privatisation initiatives to date.Additionally, an agreement between Hellenic Telecoms (OTE) and Huawei, state broadcasters ERT and CCTV as well as a MoU between Greece's National Accreditation System and the China National Accreditation Service for Assessment will be signed in Athens.Later, the two leaders will speak to the press and afterwards Karamanlis will host an official reception for the influential world leader. Meanwhile, the Chinese news agency Xinhua on Monday disseminated an interview given by Karamanlis, where the Greek premier referred to a "significant milestone" in Sino-Greek relations. The interview is also reproduced in the newspaper "China Daily", the electronic edition of the "People's Daily" and carried on the China Radio International broadcast. Among others, Karamanlis said the Greek government wants to transform Greece into a vital regional hub for attracting Chinese investments. On Tuesday evening, Karamanlis will speak at the 19th Annual Congress of the Greek-American Chamber of Commerce on the issue:"The hour of the Greek economy". Caption: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis (L) and president of China Hu Jintao (R) during his arrival on Monday at the Athens International airport.ANA-MPA/GOULIELMOS ANTONIOU [02] MIG's shareholders approve 5-bln-euro share capital increase planMarfin Investment Group (MIG) on Monday said a repeat extraordinary general shareholders' meeting approved a share capital increase plan, worth 5.0 billion euros.MIG's shareholders approved a plan envisaging that the share capital increase will be implemented through the issuing a new shares at a minimum price of 5.0 euros per share (closely linked with the company's internal value at the time of issuance to converge as much as possible with an initial decision for a share value of six euros per share). The final price will be determined by MIG's board. The plan is expected to be completed in the next 12 months. MIG also said it requested permission to raise its equity stake in Marfin Popular Bank by up to 30 pct. The board also announced it was examining alternative ideas, such as partial de-investment or restructuring of capital in certain holdings with the aim to boost liquidity. [03] KKE leader meets Judges and Prosecutors UnionCommunist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga, speaking after her meeting with the Judges and Prosecutors Union on Monday accused the Greek as well as other European governments that "both in the European Union and in Greece measures are being taken for extreme poverty, and if you want our opinion, these measures are also offensive because the people have very great needs and not the 100 euros for heating oil but consciously, however, they are leaving out a very large sector of woking people whose life has also worsened and they also want to dump the burdens of the crisis on them."Papariga further said that all that is being said on the part of the government "finds us radically opposed precisely because the logic is: To help profit-making and an axe to fall literally on the rights of the working people." Referring to the situation prevailing in the Justice sector, Papariga said that KKE believes that "certain things have more than matured and if they are not handled by the Justice ministry and by the government in general, we can speak of phenomena of decay." [04] Tourism minister on Greek-French relations since 18th centuryTourist Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos focused on management issues in the tourist development sector in his address at the Apogevmatini conference on Monday on the theme of "Greek-French relations from the 18th century until our days," stressing that the French market is of particular importance for Greece.The minister said that over the past years Greece has been receiving 700,000-750,000 French visitors on an annual basis, holding 10th position in the preferences of French travellers. Greece's immediate aim is to reach the figure of one million visitors from France in 2010 which, in the minister's view, can be accomplished despite the unfavourable economic conjuncture. Spiliotopoulos pointed out that if this is achieved, Greece will consolidate itself in eighth place regarding the destinations chosen by the French, while the ministry's medium-term target is stabilising this figure and attracting from France as many high-income visitors as possible. [05] ASE opening: Strong riseEquity prices were rising at the opening of trade on Tuesday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with the basic share price index up 3.48 percent, standing at 1,929.79 points at 10:45 a.m., and turnover at 26.8 million euros.Individual sector indices were moving upward across the board, with the biggest gains in Banks, up 4.24 percent; Financial Services, up 3.72 percent; Raw Materials, up 3.31 percent; Health, up 3.20 percent; and Oil & Gas, up 2.64 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was up 3.45 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was up 1.38 percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was up 0.94 percent. Of the stocks moved, 105 were up, 9 were down, and 16 were unchanged. [06] Health minister at Economist conf'Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, addressing the Economist's conference on Monday, said that the pricing of pharmaceuticals in Greece will gradually pass on to the Health ministry. The pricing of pharmaceuticals has been carried out by the Development ministry so far.The Health minister further said that the issue was not one of persons but of government policies and that it was something that should have been done long ago. He also referred to backing for the National Pharmaceuticals Organisation and to emphasis that will be placed in the coming years on the sector of pharmaceutical research in the country. Avramopoulos revealed that over the first six months that the new law on prucurements has been in force, through tendering, 50 million euros have been saved and the target is to have a total of 500 million euros saved from procurements to public hospitals. Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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