Prime Minister mr Andreas Papandreou was forced to leave the island of Patmos today after the light food poisoning he suffers from since yesterday.
Due to the food poisoning, Press and Media Ministere mr Tilemahos Hitiris replaced mr Papandreou in the meeting he was to have with the Ecumenical Patriarch mr Vartholomeos.
Earlier today the Greek Prime Minister had taken part in the manifestations in the cave where Saint John wrote the book of revelation.
Press and Media Minister mr Tilemahos Hitiris said that the Prime Minister's situation has not created any concern and that the return to Athens is due to "prevention reasons".
The celebrations for the 1.900th anniversary of the writing of the Book of Revelation by Saint John concluded today at the presense of the Greek President mr Constantinos Stephanopoulos who had arrived on the island earlier this morning.
Ecumenical Patriarch mr Vartholomeos alongside the Heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches attended the ceremonies outside the Cave of Revelation where hundreds of faithful had gathered and then they visited the Ecclesiastical School of Patmos.
In a message read after the mass and signed by the Ecumenical Patriarch and by the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, except from the Russian Patriarch Alexios, what is stressed is that the impression that the Christian Orthodox Church identifies with nationalism is false while it is underlined that the Christian Orthodox tradition unequivocally condemns the nationalist fanaticism.
In the message is also stressed the Christian Orthodox teaching on the relationship of man and nature while is reminded the Orthodox Church's contribution to the change of the relationship of man, nature and his conscience, a change that can secure the protection of the environment.
In their message the Heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches stress the concern of the orthodox world over the attempts to change the status quo in the Holy Land and asked that the interests and the ancient rights of the Orthodox Church are to be taken under consideration in every attempt to change the status quo in the Holy Land and especially in the city of Jerusalem.
The Ecumenical Patriarch honoured the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers by awarding them the Golden Eagle of the Revelation.
In his speech during an official dinner he offered to the participants mr Stephanopoulos said that fro the Greek people the Ecumenical patrairchate is a bright lighthouse and added that it was a great honour for unfertile Patmos that such a bokk was writen on this island.
Tonight a cultural event with byzantine hymns will take place near the Cave of the Revelation, while greek actress Irini Papa will recite verses from the Revelation.
The Ecumenical Patriarch will leave for Constantinople tomorrow.
Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias is in the UN headquarters in New York in order to participate in the proceedings of the annual UN General Assembly meeting.
In the framework of the contacts he will have in New York mr. Papoulias will meet with the Foreign Ministers of Yugoslavia and Bosnia to discuss the promotion of a peaceful solution to the Bosnian crisis while the possibility to meet with his turkish counterpart mr Erdal Inonu remains open.
Greece was the honoured country in the 19th Festival of Nations held in the US state of Texas organized by the Institute of International Education.
The greek government was represented by Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Grigoris Niotis, responsible for issues concerning the greeks living abroad and by Undersecretary of National Economy, mr.Ioannis Anthopoulos. The greek Prime Minister was the honorary President of the Festival of Nations.
In the Festival participated greek-american artists who live and work in the area of Texas and also greek=1Famerican students from this american state, where a large number of greek immigrants live and work.
The 11th Conference of the Greek-American Leadership opens in Washington today co-organized by the United Greek-American Congress in Chicago and by the International Coordinating Committee for the Cypriot Struggle.
Among the speakers in the opening meeting will be US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
The members of the Conference tomorrow will visit Capitol Hill for contacts with House Representatives and Senators while they will also meet and with the Speaker of the House. In a formal dinner will be honoured US Senator Olympia Snow, House Representative Robert Toricelli and also special Ambassador Richard Shifter and former House Representatives John Bredimas and William Bloomfield.
On Thursday the members of the Conference will meet with the candidates for the United States Presidency in the 1996 elections while the proceedings will be concluded with a formal dinner that will be given to the honour of the conference members by greek Ambassador in the United States, mr Loukas Tsilas.
The trade and economic relations between Cyprus and Romania are developing in a satisfactory way as the number of joint business ventures and the cypriot investments are increasing.
"Cyprus is one of our steady trade partners", stated romanian Undersecretary of Commerce Ion Pargarou after the end of the proceedings of the 10th meeting of the joint romanian-cypriot intergovernmental committee that was held in Bucharest on September 21-25.
The romanian Undersecretary of Commerce stated that in 1994 the volume of the trade transactions between the two countries reached 58 million dollars while in Romania operate 284 trade companies with cypriot capital of total worth 15,14 million dollars.
The romanian official also pointed out that in Cyprus there is less bureaucracy while as he characteristically said the Cypriots are more flexible and more skilful.