Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-12-23
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, December 23, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THREE IRAQI BABIES FREEZE TO DEATH IN
TRAILER TRUCK REFUGE
[02] FROST AND LOW TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT
NORTHERN GREECE
[03] GREECE, ALBANIA TO JOIN FORCES FOR BALKAN
RECONSTRUCTION
[04] THESSALONIKI CONCERT HALL TO BE INAUGURATED
ON JANUARY 2
[05] GREECE'S SEAFARM IONIAN BUYS MAJORITY STAKE
IN TURKISH FIRM
[06] THESSALONIKI'S EUROCONSULTANT TO COOPERATE
WITH EBRD
[07] COST OF CHRISTMAS TABLE A BIT MORE STIFF
THIS YEAR
[08] PETROL STATION OWNERS CALL OFF STRIKE OVER
HOLIDAY PERIOD
[09] SIMITIS: THE YEAR 2000 WILL BE ELECTION
YEAR
[10] NEW PLUNGE FOR THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[11] KAKLAMANIS RAISED THE ISSUE OF THE
PARTHENON MARBLES TO HIS BRITISH COUNTERPART
[12] SKANDALIDIS - META MEETING
[13] WEAK TREMOR IN THE PREFECTURE OF
THESSALONIKI
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] BALKAN NEWS AGENCIES HAIL RAPPROCHEMENT
INITIATIVES IN AREA
[15] FYROM GOVERNMENT COALITION AGREES TO
COOPERATE
[16] FINAL DECISION ON BTK SALE TO BE DRAWN NEXT
YEAR
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NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THREE IRAQI BABIES FREEZE TO DEATH IN
TRAILER TRUCK REFUGE
Three children froze to death last night
when their parents, Iraqi stowaways, sought
refuge in a trailer truck in their attempt to
enter Greece illegally.
The grim discovery was made early this
morning in the Evros region where the truck had
entered from Turkey. The adults, who are in good
health, are presently being questioned by
police.
[02] FROST AND LOW TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT
NORTHERN GREECE
Frost and low temperatures is forecast
throughout the region of northern Greece today,
where yesterday's dense snowfall caused havoc to
transportation.
Anti-skid chains are required on all
vehicles traveling on the national highway and
provincial roads, while temperatures have fallen
below the zero-mark in many regions of
Macedonia. The Prefect of Thessaloniki Costas
Papadopoulos announced that all schools, from
elementary to high-school, will remain closed
for the day.
Flights at the "Macedonia" airport are
being conducted as scheduled.
[03] GREECE, ALBANIA TO JOIN FORCES FOR BALKAN
RECONSTRUCTION
Greece and Albania are to move forward for
the faster implementation of a massive Balkan
reconstruction plan, following a two-hour
meeting held yesterday between Albania's
visiting Prime Minister Ilir Meta and his Greek
counterpart Costas Simitis.
Messrs. Meta and Simitis earlier signed an
economic agreement and agreed to work together
to promote tourism. The Albanian Premier
welcomed the economic cooperation between the
two countries and hoped it would become
stronger. Greece is Albania's second largest
economic partner.
Both men also welcomed a deal signed on
Monday between the countries' law and order
ministers to increase cooperation between their
police forces and reinforce border patrols to
stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Albania
into Greece.
[04] THESSALONIKI CONCERT HALL TO BE INAUGURATED
ON JANUARY 2
The Thessaloniki Concert Hall will be
inaugurated on January 2 by Prime Minister
Costas Simitis in the presence of Ecumenical
Patriarch Vartholomeos who will travel to
Thessaloniki for this purpose.
The facility will have a seating capacity
of 1,476, and can be used as an opera, theater
and convention center. Its construction will
cost 14 billion drachmas.
The concert hall will discontinue its
operation for three months after the two-day
inauguration ceremony to enable finishing
touches to be placed to the building before
embarking on operation in May.
[05] GREECE'S SEAFARM IONIAN BUYS MAJORITY STAKE
IN TURKISH FIRM
Greek fish farm firm Seafarm Ionian has
announced the acquisition of a 51 percent stake
in Turkey's Ilknak, thereby successfully
concluding months of negotiations.
Ilknak owns a fish farm near Izmir, one of
the most advanced units in the neighboring
country with an annual output of around 400
tons.
Fish farms in Turkey are currently
producing 15,000 tons a year, while Greece
produces 50,000 tons.
[06] THESSALONIKI'S EUROCONSULTANT TO COOPERATE
WITH EBRD
Thessaloniki's Euroconsultant SA has signed
a cooperation agreement with the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which
calls for collaboration on a regional
development initiative that includes the Inter-
Balkan and Black Sea Business Center, Cyprus
Development Bank and the Hellenic Technology
Transfer Center.
EBRD's regional development initiative, of
a two-year duration, aims to identify and pre-
select investments by small- and medium-sized
enterprises in FYROM, Romania and Armenia, in
the first year of its implementation.
Three more countries in the region will be
included in the program in the second year.
EBRD will participate with an average of 30
percent in each investment. The focus will be on
administration, technology and commerce.
[07] COST OF CHRISTMAS TABLE A BIT MORE STIFF
THIS YEAR
The cost of this year's Christmas table
will be a bit more stiff as consumers note a 10-
20% increase in fresh meat prices, although
fresh produce prices have been contained at last
year's prices.
While retail stores are operated all -day
long, following holiday schedules, the recent
bout of snowy weather hampered sales.
[08] PETROL STATION OWNERS CALL OFF STRIKE OVER
HOLIDAY PERIOD
The Federation of petrol station owners has
decided to call off a strike planned for the
holiday period, after the ministries of
transportation and economics met some of their
demands, which included a 15-percent increase in
transportation fees and the abolition of a tax
on number plate renewals.
Meanwhile, significant increases have taken
place in fuel prices where gasoline will be
higher by 6.5 drachmas and heating oil by 3.5
drachmas.
[09] SIMITIS: THE YEAR 2000 WILL BE ELECTION
YEAR
The year 2000 will be a decisive year for
Greece, because Greece's EMU membership will be
decided and the necessary work has already been
done for everything to go well, stated Greek
prime minister Kostas Simitis, who visited the
central PASOK party offices in Athens to share
Christmas wishes with party members and
employees.
Mr. Simitis stressed that the year 2000 is
election year according to the constitution. Mr.
Simitis stated that the next elections will
confirm the leading presence of PASOK in the
Greek political scene. He also stated that 2000
will be a good year with which a new history
circle will open and PASOK will continue the
reform of the Greek society. The prime minister
responding to a question by a reporter on when
the next elections will be held he said: "From
now until October, 2000".
[10] NEW PLUNGE FOR THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The Athens Stock Exchange general index,
after yesterday's gains of 0.62%, recorded
losses of 4.18% today and closed under the 4.800
points mark.
The lack of purchase interest and the
market's draining off as a result of the wave of
share capital increases led the general index to
close at 4.789,37 points while the volume of
transactions shrunk to 200 billion drachmas.
The biggest losses were recorded in the
parallel market stocks and its index dropped by
7.73%, while extremely strong were the pressures
exerted on the construction companies which had
losses of 7.91%.
However, the bank shares and the blue chips
which played a leading role yesterday in helping
the general index to regain its lost ground were
unaffected.
[11] KAKLAMANIS RAISED THE ISSUE OF THE
PARTHENON MARBLES TO HIS BRITISH COUNTERPART
The issue of the return of the Parthenon
Marbles to Greece was raised by Greek parliament
speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis in a letter he
addressed to his British counterpart in the
House of Commons Ms. Betty Boothroyd.
Mr. Kaklamanis pointed out in his letter
that over 34.000 signatures of plain citizens,
scientists and distinguished personalities have
been collected via Internet in support of
Greece's demand for the return of the Parthenon
Marbles which are kept in the British Museum.
The Greek parliament speaker stated in his
letter that in favor of the return of the
marbles are international organizations such as
the European Parliament and UNESCO as well as
the international science and archaeology
community and concluded stressing that he is
certain that the British parliament will
approach the whole issue with sensitivity.
[12] SKANDALIDIS - META MEETING
The Greek-Albanian relations and the
problems faced by the neighboring country were
discussed in the meeting of governing socialist
party of PASOK central committee secretary
Kostas Skandalidis with Albanian prime minister
Ilir Meta.
In his statement Mr. Skandalidis
characterized his discussion with the Albanian
leader as constructive and said that they
examined issues concerning both the Albanians
who live in Greece as well as the Greek minority
in Albania.
On the first issue, Mr. Skandalidis
stressed to Mr. Meta that nationalism must stop
adding that such approaches have no place in
modern times. On the Greek minority living in
Albania, Mr. Skandalidis said that Greece is
very much interested in their rights, their
lives and their prosperity.
[13] WEAK TREMOR IN THE PREFECTURE OF
THESSALONIKI
Seismologists characterize as usual
phenomenon the weak tremor measuring 3 on the
Richter scale that was recorded at 1am this
morning and its epicenter was located in
Migdonia Basin in the prefecture of Thessaloniki
at a small distance from Lake Volvi.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Geophysics Laboratory announced that the exact
epicenter of the tremor was 58 kilometers east
of Thessaloniki, between Lake Volvi and the
village of Varvara in Chalkidiki.
It should be noted that an earthquake
measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale had been
recorded in the same region on December 12,
while a strong earthquake of 5.8 on the Richter
scale had been recorded in March, 1995 and was
especially felt in the region of Arnea,
Chalkidiki.
Seismologist Manolis Skordilis stated that
based on all indications so far the region does
not present increased seismic activity and he
did not rule out the likelihood for the tremor
to be a late aftershock of the 1995 earthquake.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] BALKAN NEWS AGENCIES HAIL RAPPROCHEMENT
INITIATIVES IN AREA
The Association of Balkan News Agencies
(ABNA) warmly saluted the initiatives presently
being undertaken by the governments of the
Balkan countries towards settling and further
developing ties among the region's states,
through a resolution unanimously adopted during
its Ninth General Assembly held in Kusadasi,
Turkey.
According to the ABNA, which comprises the
national news agencies of all Balkan countries,
these initiatives will contribute to the
creation of a climate of peace, security and
cooperation, void of prejudices that divide the
peoples. The ABNA's members stated that the
achievement of the said aims will endow the
expansion of cooperation among the countries of
the Black Sea region and, concurrent with the
development of the European and Community ideal,
facilitate the qualitative improvement of the
mass media in the Balkans.
Moreover, the ABNA members concurred on
the fortification and operation of their mutual
site on the Internet (http://www.abna.org),
which was established by the Macedonian Press
Agency within the framework of the "Balkan News
Bank". The said address provides Internet users
with access to news and reports by and for all
the countries of southeastern Europe, in an
effort to eliminate information barriers in the
Balkans.
Furthermore, in an effort to provide ABNA
journalists unhindered travel throughout the
region, the Association authorized its Secretary
General Spyros Kouzinopoulos, who is also the
MPA's general director, to forward a relevant
letter to the Balkan governments asking them to
enable its journalists conduct their
professional task.
Finally, the ABNA, which has a rotating,
semi-annual presidency, expressed its gratitude
to the present term's outgoing president Mehmet
Guler, the General Director of the Turkish news
agency "Anadolu", for his service, and warmly
welcomed his successor Andreas Christodoulides,
the General Director of the Athens News Agency
(ANA).
With the leadership of ANA, the member-
agencies noted, ABNA enters the new millennium
under the administration of a historic agency
whose operation has spanned the course of over a
century and made a substantial contribution to
the arena of independent and objective
information.
[15] FYROM GOVERNMENT COALITION AGREES TO
COOPERATE
FYROM's tripartite government coalition
signed an agreement for further cooperation
yesterday, ending uncertainty about its future.
According to the French news agency AFP, the
agreement was signed by leaders of the three
parties -- Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski of
VMRO-DPMNE, Vasil Tupurkovski of the Democratic
Alternative (DA) and Arben Dzaferi, the leader
of the Democratic Party for Albanians (DPA).
After signing the agreement, Premier
Georgievski stated that he would give back his
mandate to newly-elected President Boris
Trajkovski, which would enable a total reshuffle
of the government.
Within the current government VMRO-DPMNE
has 13 ministers, the DA eight and the ethnic
Albanian party five.
[16] FINAL DECISION ON BTK SALE TO BE DRAWN NEXT
YEAR
Negotiations on the sale of Bulgaria's
state BTK telecommunications to the Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization (OTE) and KPN of
the Netherlands, which are to jointly purchase
51% of the Bulgarian firm's shares, are to
continue into the year 2000, according to
Transportation Minister Antoni Slavinky.
The newly-appointed minister stated that,
henceforth, all matters pertaining to BTK's sale
will be overseen by the Privatization
Organization, under the personal supervision of
Prime Minister Ivan Kostov.
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