Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2000-03-08
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, February 8, 2000
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREEK PREMIER TO VISIT TURKEY
[02] INCUMBENT PRESIDENT TO BE RE-ELECTED TODAY
[03] ASIA FORUM: COOPERATION IS KEY FOR DEVELOPMENT
[04] RETURN OF PARTHENON MARBLES, A MORAL AND LEGAL ISSUE
[05] EUROSTAT: GREEKS SPEND MOST IN HOUSEHOLD, FOOD EXPENSES
[06] EXTENSIVE PROGRESS MADE ON EGNATIA MOTORWAY
[07] GREEK PARTIES ENTER PRE-ELECTION RACE AT FULL SPEED
[08] GREEK FURS TO BEAR AUTHENTICITY CERTIFICATE
[09] THE GREEKS SPEND MORE ON HOUSEHOLD AND FOOD
[10] ATHENS CONDEMNS THE ASSASSINATION OF BULATOVIC
[11] INSTITUTIONS OF EURO-ASIAN COOPERATION IN THESSALONIKI
[12] GAINS OF 1.11% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[13] STEPHANOPOULOS WILL BE RE-ELECTED TO THE GREEK PRESIDENCY
TODAY
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] F.R.Y. DEFENSE MINISTER ASSASSINATED IN BELGRADE
[15] CYPRUS PROXIMITY TALKS END IN GENEVA TODAY
[16] BIOGRAPHY OF PAVLE BULATOVIC
[17] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS AXES FLIGHT TO MELBOURNE
[18] TIRANA: NEW GREEK INVESTMENTS
[19] INFORMAL MEETING OF THE EU DEFENSE MINISTERS
[20] STRATEGY ON EMPLOYMENT BY GREEK EU COMMISSIONER
DIAMANTOPOULOU
[21] A US NEWSPAPER ON THE MUSEUM OF EUROPE
[22] THE SECOND ROUND OF THE CYPRUS TALKS CONCLUDED IN GENEVA
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREEK PREMIER TO VISIT TURKEY
Prime Minister Costas Simitis is to conduct an official visit
to Turkey at an as-of-yet unspecified time, according to
government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas.
Turkey's Premier Bulent Ecevit extended an invitation to his
Greek counterpart during the recent visit to Ankara by Foreign
Minister George Papandreou.
Mr. Reppas did not rule the possibility of a Simitis-Ecevit
meeting on the sidelines of the Summit Conference to be held in
Bucharest, although he stated that such a meeting has not been
scheduled.
[02] INCUMBENT PRESIDENT TO BE RE-ELECTED TODAY
Incumbent president of the Hellenic Republic Costis
Stephanopoulos is expected to be re-elected by the country's 300-
seat Parliament today, as both the ruling PASOK party and the main
opposition of New Democracy have pledged their vote.
The voting process will be an open nominal ballot, while
deputies of minor opposition party Coalition of the Left and
Progress are to vote for sole contender Leonidas Kyrkos.
President Stephanopoulos will be sworn in office on March 11.
[03] ASIA FORUM: COOPERATION IS KEY FOR DEVELOPMENT
The essential role of international cooperation in economic
development was the focus of the discussion held at yesterday's
evening session of Asia Forum 2000, which is to conclude in
Thessaloniki today.
Indonesia's presidential envoy Iman Taufik pointed out that
if the region's countries are unable to improve a portion of their
industrial capital goods for the basic needs emerging through
their developing economies, then it will be extremely difficult
for them to curb their deficit and extend their economic growth.
In the one-year span of 1995-96, trade volume increased by 16
percent, while 62% of the goods were electronic products.
According to Mr. Taufik, meeting the demands pertaining to the
improvement of the Asian countries' infrastructure will require
one trillion dollars for the following ten years. Moreover, he
stated that strategic alliances and joint ventures formed among
the Asian countries are in themselves encouraging factors.
Nevertheless, he stressed, strengthened cooperation between
Europe and Asia will fortify the latter's capital goods market,
while also granting Europe the opportunity to increase its exports
of technology, and thus strengthen Asian economies, which will in
turn boost world trade.
The coordinator of the Trade and Investment Committee of the
Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Michael Wei referred to
the need for economic cooperation in eastern and southeastern
Asia, while also pointing out that the said regions' economic
development has reached satisfactory levels.
According to Mr. Wei, APEC's members are aware that market
expansion will depend on trade and investment facilitation.
Albanian's Undersecretary of Economic Cooperation and Trade
Engjeli Skreli, outlined the basic axes of his government's
economic policy, while he also stated that Asia Forum will give
the participating countries the "go-ahead" for future economic
collaboration.
While acknowledging that investment in his country is at
present limited, Mr. Skreli stated that Albania has drawn specific
plans of action, i.e. legislative changes, that will improve the
existing climate and boost foreign investment.
The second Asia Forum conference, to be held on May23-28,
will feature six workshops as well as an exhibition of industrial
products, tourism-related activities and financial services.
[04] RETURN OF PARTHENON MARBLES, A MORAL AND LEGAL ISSUE
The return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece is both a moral
and legal issue which will be the single most significant cultural
topic of discussion in the third millennium, according to the
former Premier of the Australian state of Victoria Jeff Kennett.
Mr. Kennett, who was recently in Athens prior to visiting
London, has also expressed his disappointment over the stand of
British Premier Tony Blair, regarding the return of the Parthenon
Marbles to Greece from the British Museum where the ancient
monuments are presently housed.
Both Mr. Blair and British Culture minister Chris Smith have
refused to see Mr. Kennett, who requested an interview for a
documentary Australia's Channel 9 is preparing on the subject of
the return of the Parthenon marbles.
Undaunted by the British officials' refusal to see him, Mr.
Kennett has vowed that the struggle for the return of the marbles
will continue, so that they may be back to Athens in 2004 when the
Olympic Games will be held.
[05] EUROSTAT: GREEKS SPEND MOST IN HOUSEHOLD, FOOD EXPENSES
Greeks spend more than all of their European counterparts on
household expenses, according to a European Commission report,
with household consumption during 1998 in Greece representing 72
present of the gross domestic product.
According to Eurostat, Greeks also spend more than all of
their European counterparts on food, a whooping 36.1% in 1997,
followed by the Portuguese with 29.7% and the Irish with 29.2%.
On a European scale, monies allocated for food in 1997
amounted to 19.2% of the household expenses, which in themselves
represented an overall 18.4 percent.
[06] EXTENSIVE PROGRESS MADE ON EGNATIA MOTORWAY
Minister of the Environment, Public Works and Urban Planning
Costas Laliotis has announced that about 120 kilometers of the
Egnatia motorway have been completed, with another 200 kilometers
of the highway expected to be finished by the end of the year.
The motorway, which will eventually cover 680 kilometers,
will span the breadth of northern Greece and connect the
northwestern Ionian Sea port of Igoumenitsa with the Greek-Turkish
border.
Mr. Laliotis stated that 65 contractors are involved in the
one-trillion drachma project.
[07] GREEK PARTIES ENTER PRE-ELECTION RACE AT FULL SPEED
With parliamentary elections having been declared for April
9, the parties are hard at work selecting candidates and preparing
campaigns, with the Parliament to be dissolved on March 14.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis is to meet with the Secretary
General of the ruling PASOK party's Central Committee Costas
Skandalides today, while he will meet with the minister of the
interior tomorrow.
Also today, the leader of the main opposition, New
Democracy's Costas Karamanlis, will chair a meeting with leading
party members.
Minor opposition parties are also preparing their candidate
lists.
[08] GREEK FURS TO BEAR AUTHENTICITY CERTIFICATE
Fur garments made in Greece are to bear a certificate of
authenticity, attesting to their origin and superior quality,
thanks to an agreement signed between the Greek Fur Center and the
Greek Standardization Organization.
According to the Greek Fur Center's market and programming
director Christos Karadinos, the certificate is the result of an
effort that got underway in 1996 and constitutes a worldwide
innovation.
He added that the Center hopes to grant a similar certificate
to Greek fur retailers.
[09] THE GREEKS SPEND MORE ON HOUSEHOLD AND FOOD
Greece occupies the first place in the European Union
regarding the spending on household items and food, according to
data provided by the European Statistics Agency EUROSTAT for the
year 1998.
Specifically, regarding the domestic and state spending there
are considerable differences among the EU member-states. In 1998,
the country with the most household expenses to the GDP was Greece
(72%), while the lowest expenses were recorded in Luxembourg
(47%).
Most money was spend on food 19.2%, followed by housing 18.4%
and transportation 16.2%. Regarding the food spending, Greece
comes first (36.1%), followed by Portugal (29.7%) and Ireland
(29.2%), while in the last place is Holland (14.5%). The spending
on housing is bigger in Sweden (27.1%) and smaller in Portugal
(9.4%), while regarding the spending on clothing the first place
is occupied by Italy (9.4%) and the last by Finland (4.6%).
[10] ATHENS CONDEMNS THE ASSASSINATION OF BULATOVIC
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas expressed the
regret of the Greek government for the assassination of Yugoslav
minister of defense Pavle Bulatovic.
Mr. Reppas stated that the assassination shows that democracy
in Yugoslavia has problems and a great effort is needed for
normalization, adding that the international community must
contribute toward this direction.
[11] INSTITUTIONS OF EURO-ASIAN COOPERATION IN THESSALONIKI
Thessaloniki is expected to become a key-city for the
development of the Euro-Asian cooperation in the following years
through the establishment of four non governmental organizations
aimed at promoting cooperation in the sectors of trade, tourism,
banking and transportation.
The establishment of the four non governmental organizations
and specifically, the creation of a trade center, an inter-banking
and brokerage center, a center of tourist cooperation and a
transport center is expected to be finalized in the next few
months, possibly in May.
The foundations for the establishment of the non governmental
organizations in which will take part representatives of private
businesses from Asian and European countries were laid in the
first ASIA FORUM held in Thessaloniki.
More details on the development of Euro-Asian cooperation in
the sectors of economy and business will be made public on May 23-
28 when a business forum will be held in Thessaloniki.
[12] GAINS OF 1.11% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
Gains of 1.11% were recorded today in the Athens Stock
Exchange and the general index closed at 5550,40 points continuing
the upward trend of the past few days.
The volume of transactions reached 372.4 billion drachmas and
according to analysts, the positive climate in the market appears
to be secured.
[13] STEPHANOPOULOS WILL BE RE-ELECTED TO THE GREEK PRESIDENCY
TODAY
Current president of the republic Kostis Stephanopoulos will
be re-elected to the post for another five-year term in a vote
that will be held in parliament this afternoon as he has the
expressed support of the governing socialist party of PASOK and
the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy.
He was born in Patras in 1926 and studied Law in the
University of Athens. He practiced law for some time and in 1961
he entered politics. He was elected to parliament in 1964 with the
National Radical Union party.
He served as undersecretary of commerce in the national unity
government under Konstantinos Karamanlis in 1974. He joined the
party of New Democracy and he was elected to parliament under its
banner from 1974 to 1985. In the governments of prime minister
Konstantinos Karamanlis he served as interior minister, social
security minister and minister to the prime minister.
He was a candidate for the New Democracy leadership in 1981
and 1984. After the unsuccessful for New Democracy 1985
parliamentary elections he came to a disagreement with
Konstantinos Mitsotakis and left followed by 15 New Democracy
parliament deputies to found the Democratic Renewal Party. As
president of that party he was elected to parliament in the 1989
elections but he failed to be elected again in the next elections.
After his party's failure in the 1990 elections he dissolved the
party and left politics.
Kostis Stephanopoulos was elected by the parliament to the
post of the president of the republic on March 8, 1995 with 181
votes as 109 votes from the party of New Democracy went to its own
candidate Athanasios Tsaldaris, while the Communist Party deputies
and independent parliament deputy Michalis Papakonstantinou voted
"present". He was sworn-in to the presidency on March 10, 1995.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] F.R.Y. DEFENSE MINISTER ASSASSINATED IN BELGRADE
Yugoslav Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic was murdered in a
Belgrade restaurant yesterday night, when two unknown assailants
opened fire with an automatic weapon.
According to Yugoslav police reports, Mr. Bulatovic was in
the restaurant of the soccer club Rad when he was shot by gunmen
who fired with automatic weapons through a window, fatally
wounding the Defense Minister and injuring the restaurant's owner,
Mirko Knezevic and banker Vuk Obradovic.
The Yugoslav government, which met for an urgent session,
said in a statement that Mr. Bulatovic "was the victim of a
classic terrorist act" and pledged to fight against terrorism.
President Slobodan Milosevic has expressed his profound
condolences to the victim's family.
Pavle Bulatovic, 52, had been defense minister of Yugoslavia
since 1994.
From 1992 to 1994, Bulatovic served as Yugoslav interior minister
in the government of Milan Panic, a Serb-born businessman who was
ousted by President Milosevic.
[15] CYPRUS PROXIMITY TALKS END IN GENEVA TODAY
The second round of proximity talks between the President of
the Cyprus Republic Glafcos Clerides and the Turkish-Cypriot
leader Rauf Denktash is to end in Geneva today, while the third
round is to take place in New York in May.
Although a news black-out has been enforced over the Clerides-
Denktash talks in Geneva, Cypriot political leaders in Nicosia
have made comments on process.
The Cypriot Democratic Rally party leader Nikos Anastasiadis
has said he was definitely satisfied by President Clerides' stance
concerning the intransigent statements made by the Turkish-Cypriot
leader, while the Secretary General of AKEL party Dimitris
Christofias said it was understood from the briefing that Mr.
Denktash was bringing forth additional issues at the Geneva
proximity talks. The leader of EDEK Vasos Lysaridis was more
pessimistic, as he stated that he does not see substantial
developments.
Archbishop Chrysostomos sounded a note of warning, stating
that the proposed solution of the Cyprus issue for a bi-zonal
federation or confederation, would become the beginning of the end
for Greek-Cypriots.
[16] BIOGRAPHY OF PAVLE BULATOVIC
Pavle Bulatovic was born in 1948 in the northern Montenegrin
town of Kolasin.
He graduated from the School of Economics at Podgorica
University and worked there as an assistant professor until 1989
when he became politically active. At that time he was a fierce
critic of the then-communist authorities, although he was a
delegate to the Montenegrin parliament from the Communist Party.
He entered high-level politics in 1989 as internal affairs
minister in the first Montenegrin post-communist government which
was headed by Radoje Kontic. He remained in that post until 1992
when he became federal police minister in the government of FRY,
headed by Prime Minister Milan Panic.
When Panic's government fell in late 1992, Bulatovic stayed
on in the new cabinet which was headed by Radoje Kontic but this
time served in the post of federal defense minister. He remained
in that post during Kontic's second term as prime minister until
1996. He was appointed to the same post in May b1998 when the
federal government was taken over by current Prime Minster and
Socialist People's Party (SNP) leader Momir Bulatovic.
[17] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS AXES FLIGHT TO MELBOURNE
Olympic Airways' decision to cancel its direct Athens-
Melbourne flight on March 26 has prompted a strong reaction from
the Greek-Australian community.
OA will provide three weekly flights to Sydney via Bangkok
while passengers
wanting to go to Melbourne will board a connecting flight with
Australian airlines Ansett or Qantas.
Leading members of Australia's Greek community have gathered
in an emergency seession in order to discover ways to prevent the
decision, while front-page articles in Australia's Greek press
have extensive coverage of the barrage of protests prompted by the
change.
OA has stressed that the axing of the flight was required in
order to restore the company's profitability.
[18] TIRANA: NEW GREEK INVESTMENTS
Greece's investment role in Albania was underlined by Greek
ambassador Alexandros Mallias in an interview with the Albanian
news agency, ATA, in which he predicted an increase of Greek
investments.
The Greek ambassador predicted that there will be an
unprecedented increase in the Greek investments during the current
year. According to Mr. Mallias, the basic sectors of Greek
investments will be infrastructure, energy, tele-communications,
the banking sector and farming.
Also, the Greek ambassador gave a special importance to the
construction of the motor-way that links the coasts of the Ionian
Sea with the coasts of the Adriatic.
Mr. Mallias pointed out that Greece's goal is the economic
stability of Albania, while he referred to the five-year program
for the reconstruction of the Balkans which is expected to improve
further the Greek-Albanian relations. He also stated that Greece
will offer the sum of US$58 million for investments in the
Albanian public services sector.
[19] INFORMAL MEETING OF THE EU DEFENSE MINISTERS
Portugal will host an informal meeting of the European Union
defense ministers on February 28, according to a statement made by
the Portuguese EU presidency spokesman.
Among the issues for discussion in the meeting that will be
held in the city of Sidra, near Lisbon, will be the defense
obligations of the European Union and security issues as they have
been formed after the Helsinki EU summit meeting.
In the meeting is expected to participate Austria's new
minister of defense Herbert Saibler, member of the far-right
Freedom Party, as Portugal decided yesterday to invite all the
members of the Vienna coalition government in the informal EU
meetings.
[20] STRATEGY ON EMPLOYMENT BY GREEK EU COMMISSIONER
DIAMANTOPOULOU
The European Commission adopted an ambitious new strategy at
the initiative of Greek EU Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou aimed
at promoting employment through the Internet.
According to the statement issued by the European Commission,
at the initiative of Ms. Diamantopoulou different professions are
being promoted in the sector of computers aimed at bridging the
gap between the European Union and the United States regarding the
access to the Internet and the use of communications' information
and technology.
Internet access is much more limited in the European Union
than in the United States and it is concentrated to the
financially powerful groups namely, men while geographically it is
greater in northern Europe.
[21] A US NEWSPAPER ON THE MUSEUM OF EUROPE
The US newspaper "Boston Sunday Globe" maintains that Europe
undergoes an identity crisis commenting on the discussions
concerning the construction of the Museum of Europe.
The newspaper writes that it is unacceptable to leave Greece
out and finds absolutely justified the reactions of the Greek
government and the Greek literary world.
The newspaper also mentions that you do not have to be a
Greek to find strange the selection of Charlemagne as the
forerunner of modern Europe. It adds that the 800 AD Europe does
not bring to mind the ideals of democracy which first appeared in
Athens at least 12 centuries earlier. The newspaper goes on by
writing that the European philosophy, the esthetics and political
theory can be separated from ancient Greece only through an
arbitrary falsification of history.
[22] THE SECOND ROUND OF THE CYPRUS TALKS CONCLUDED IN GENEVA
The second round of the proximity talks on Cyprus concluded
in Geneva today and the next round of contacts will resume in New
York on May 23.
UN secretary-general representative to Cyprus Alvaro De Soto
responding to a MPA question stated that the United Nations do not
give up hope regarding the improvement of prospects for the
solution of the Cyprus problem in spite of the fact that neither a
solution nor an opening of direct negotiations are expected in the
third round of talks of the two communities on the island.
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