Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] President welcomes American human rights activist Kerry Kennedy

[02] Sixteen refugees drown in new migrants boat tragedy off Lesvos

[03] Dragasakis chairs meeting between government, Greek banks

[04] Consortium pays 1.1 bln euros to buy 67 pct of Thessaloniki Port Authority

[05] Private sector arrears to the state up 989 mln euros in February

[06] Athens journalists union condemns attack against newspaper's offices

[01] President welcomes American human rights activist Kerry Kennedy

Kennedy was accompanied by Marianna Vardinoyianni, an UNESCO ambassador and head of the "Marianna Vardinoyianni Foundation".

Pavlopoulos hailed the cooperation between the two Foundations in informing students about human rights and congratulated Kennedy for the work of the Kennedy Foundation, not just in the United States but also internationally.

Kennedy and Vardinoyianni gave the president a copy of the book "Speak Truth to Power" about human rights, which was published in Greek by the "Vardinoyianni Foundation", in cooperation with the "Kennedy Foundation".

"Human rights are ecumenical, but they were born here. Greece is the country that taught the world what democracy means, what it means not to have to live in a dictatorship. It taught us that every person can affect the political and economic conditions in which one lives in," she said and recalled her father's (Robert F. Kennedy ) respect and love for Greece and its culture.

[02] Sixteen refugees drown in new migrants boat tragedy off Lesvos

Greek authorities have already recovered the dead bodies of nine migrants and refugees (six women, two men and one child) while the Turkish Coast Guard has found seven bodies (six men and one child), all passengers of a dinghy that capsized early Monday off the coast of Mythimna, on the island of Lesvos. Two women were found alive, one of whom was pregnant and taken to Mytilene General Hospital. The exact number of people originally on board the dinghy remains unknown.

According to one of the two women that were found alive, there were approximately 25 persons in the dighy.

[03] Dragasakis chairs meeting between government, Greek banks

"The tug-of-war cannot continue indefinitely. All sides must assume their responsibility," he said.

The government remains steadfastly committed to reaching an overall agreement with the institutions, while its recent contacts in Washington during the IMF Spring Meeting confirmed a shared will for a successful conclusion to the negotiations, he added.

Dragasakis noted that banks have to become part of the solution to the country's problem and a support for efforts to reconfigure the economy and achieve equitable and sustainable growth. In order to achieve this, they must regain their ability to finance the economy as quickly as possible, in a way that takes into account the lessons of the past, he added.

Factors that will facilitate the flow of liquidity include the completion of the second review, the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme, the ability to tap international financial markets, NSRF-funded projects and activation of other special financing instruments in collaboration with the European Investment Bank, Dragasakis said.

He also pointed to encouraging signs from the real economy, such as in tourism and other industrial sectors, which indicated that important investments currently on hold could be encouraged by a corresponding policy by banks.

Dragasakis reaffirmed the government's support for reducing the mountain of non-performing loans and giving a second chance to over-indebted businesses and households, while noting that this must avoid rewarding those that had allowed their businesses to founder while becoming personally rich.

He also stressed the need to increase the use of electronic financial transactions in order to improve tax collection, urging banks to consider ways of lowering the cost of using POS terminals and electronic transactions for the businesses that still found them prohibitive.

Dragasakis additionally asked banks to assist in efforts to attract foreign direct investment, noting that this must start by restoring the country's image abroad. This, he added, required opening a 'front' at home against the "deliberate distortion of the facts, a selfish misrepresentation of reality, irresponsible danger-mongering and deliberate speculative talk." Exiting the crisis would require close cooperation between the government, banks and economic players, he noted, pointing out that bank bailouts in Greece were supported by massive contributions from society and state borrowing.

To this end he proposed the creation of a permanent forum for dialogue and cooperation between financial institutions, businesses in the real economy and the government and also a permanent channel for dialogue and communication between banks and the government to ensure there is ample warning and effective handling of the social repercussions of measures of settling overdue debt, especially for large businesses.

The meeting was held with the head and board members of the Hellenic Bank Association, as well as the heads of the country's six biggest banks (Piraeus Bank, National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Attica Bank and HSBC). Attending on the government side, in addition to Dragasakis, were Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Justice, Transparency and Human Rights Minister Stavros Kontonis, Alternate Economy and Development Minister Alexis Charitsis, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Dimitris Liakos and senior ministry officials.

[04] Consortium pays 1.1 bln euros to buy 67 pct of Thessaloniki Port Authority

The improved financial offer envisages payment of a consideration of 231,926,000 for the acquisition of 67% of shares in Thessaloniki Port Authority. In assessing the improved financial offer, HRADF's Board of Directors took into account the two independent valuations for THPA and decided to declare the above-mentioned consortium as the highest bidder.

The total value of the agreement amounts to 1.1 billion euros and includes among others the aforementioned 231,926,000 offer, the mandatory investments amounting to 180 million over the next seven years and the expected revenues from the concession agreement for the Hellenic Republic, in an expected amount in excess of 170 million euros. The total amount takes also into account the expected dividends receivable by the HRADF for the remaining 7.22% shareholding as well as the estimated investments (in excess of the mandatory ones) until the expiration of the concession, in 2051.

The above development signals a new era for the Port of Thessaloniki, the prospects of economic development of Northern Greece and the country as a whole. A file relating to the tender process will be submitted to the Court of Auditors in the coming weeks for a pre-contractual review of the legality of the process; the share purchase agreement (SPA) will be signed, following the Court of Auditors' approval.

The completion of the transaction is subject to the competent authorities' approvals and the satisfaction of certain further conditions provided for the share purchase agreement (SPA). Morgan Stanley and Piraeus Bank acted as financial advisors, Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer LLP and Alexiou - Kosmopoulos Law Firm acted as legal advisors, the Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) and Marnet acted as technical advisors on behalf of HRADF.

[05] Private sector arrears to the state up 989 mln euros in February

The number of debtors to the state totaled 4,052,270 in February, from 4,173,206 in January.

[06] Athens journalists union condemns attack against newspaper's offices

A group of about 10 masked individuals barged into the newspaper's offices shortly after noon and they threw paint and flyers. Before police arrived to the scene, they left.

"The board of ESIEA expresses its support to the colleagues an all the employees of the newspaper and notes that such actions, wherever they come from, will not weaken the morale of journalists for [providing] objective information but the state must do its duty," the union said.

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