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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-06-18
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, June 18, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[Á] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] LET THEM EAT APPLES, 2,000 TONS OF THEM
[02] G. BUSH, US PRESIDENT'S DAD, ON AEGEAN CRUISE
[03] A FIRST: GREEK, TURKISH MUNICIPALITIES TWINNED
[04] O.A. SAGA TO END SOON, SUITORS SUBMIT BIDS TODAY
[05] BALKAN EDUCATIONAL MEETING SOON IN ISTANBUL
[06] GREEK-ISRAELI TECHNOLOGY FORUM ON JUNE 26-27
[07] "CYPRUS-AEGEAN-THRACE" NULLIFYING DISTANCES
[08] GREEK, TURKISH FMs TO MEET AT SAMOS, KUSADASI
[09] OECD: ABOUT A MILLION IMMIGRANTS NOW IN GREECE
[10] OVER 1.000 PEOPLE LIVE ON THE STREETS IN GREECE
[11] OLYMPIC GAMES ARE A CHALLENGE FOR TRANSPORTATION
[12] LOSSES IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[13] REPPAS ON THE DECISION OF THE BULGARIAN PEOPLE
[14] WORLD CONFERENCE OF GREEKS FROM EGYPT
[15] REPPAS: THE PRIME MINISTER'S JET IS SAFE
[16] NATO FORCE TO BE DEPLOYED IN FYROM
[17] REPPAS' RESPONSE TO THE KOSTUNICA STATEMENTS
[18] INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF COMMUNIST PARTIES IN ATHENS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[19] BULGARIA'S EX-KING RETURNS TO POLITICAL POWER
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] LET THEM EAT APPLES, 2,000 TONS OF THEM
Over two thousand tons of apples produced in Greece are to be
allocated to Kosovo refugees, according to an amended order issued
by the Minister of Agriculture George Anomeritis.
The fruit, which was destined for the landfills, is to be
dispersed to various Orthodox archbishopries and refugee camps.
The Minister has also called for strict health and quality
controls, while the shipment's containers are to bear indications
in Greek, Slavic and English.
[02] G. BUSH, US PRESIDENT'S DAD, ON AEGEAN CRUISE
Former US President George Bush is presently on a cruise to
the Aegean islands, at the invitation of Greek ship magnate
Yiannis Latsis.
Escorted by an entourage of 38 persons, Mr. Bush's first stop
was reportedly the island of Myconos, while he is also scheduled
to visit Patmos and other, more isolated, islands in the Aegean.
According to reports, Mr. Bush is also expected to meet with
the honorary president of the main opposition party of New
Democracy and former premier Constantine Mitsotakis, with whom he
enjoys close ties.
[03] A FIRST: GREEK, TURKISH MUNICIPALITIES TWINNED
In a ceremony attended by Ecumenical
Patriarch Vartholomeos, the municipalities of Gera, on the Greek
island of Lesvos, and of Altinoluk in Turkey were twinned on
Saturday, a first countries in the history of Greek-Turkish
relations.
The event was also attended by Minister of the Aegean Nikos
Sifounakis, mayors and representatives of social agencies and of
the political world.
Stating that the twinning does not constitute an intervention
in the foreign policies of the two governments, the mayor of Gera
said that it only symbolizes the will of the two peoples for
peaceful cohabitation in the Aegean.
The mayor of Altinoluk referred to those who allow a group of
provocateurs to intervene between the two peoples and to sow
hatred, saying that "we should not allow anyone to think he can
turn back the river of friendship we have created, confirming the
traditions of centuries."
Mr. Vartholomeos blessed the twinning and planted an olive
tree together with the two mayors, while saying that "we believe
and proclaim that relations between Greeks and Turks should be
relations of friendship, cooperation and good neighborliness in
the interest of both countries."
[04] O.A. SAGA TO END SOON, SUITORS SUBMIT BIDS TODAY
The four companies that are interested in buying a majority
stake of Olympic Airways (OA) are to submit their bids by 7.30 pm
today, thus ending a months-long saga regarding the fate of
Greece's ailing national air carrier.
The four parties are the private airline company Axon (a
member of the Liakounakos group), Cyprus Airways (the only
international airline company to submit an offer), Golden Aviation
Services (belonging to shipowner Stamatis Restis) and the
Australian Integrated Airlines Solutions, whose bid is being
backed by the airlline's pilots association.
The submitted dossiers are to be forwarded to the Swiss bank
Credit Suisse First Boston, which is acting as an adviser to the
government for OA's privatization.
The bid criteria set forth by the government are that OA
should operate mainly as an airline after its privatization and
retain its logo retain its logo for a specified period of time.
Also, the newly-built Athens airport Eleftherios Venizelos should
be used as the main base for OA's aircraft.
Moreover, the privatized firm should have the financial
strength and administrative capacity to post growth as a
financially viable company with long-term prospects, while state
and affiliate-firm risks and commitments should be minimized after
restructuring.
[05] BALKAN EDUCATIONAL MEETING SOON IN ISTANBUL
The second educational meeting of leading officials of the
Balkan countries on political and economic cooperation and
development will take place June 20-23 in Istanbul, organized by
the Kokkalis Program, in collaboration with Turkey's Sabaci
University.
The Istanbul meeting, which comprises the third and final
part of this year's educational program that was launched in March
at Harvard University in the US, will be attended by 25 prominent
officials holding key positions in the political and economic
sectors of their countries.
The delegates include the government spokesman of FYROM,
ministers from the Serb and Turkish governments, members of
Romania's senate, and advisors of the Bulgarian president and the
prime ministers of Albania and Greece.
[06] GREEK-ISRAELI TECHNOLOGY FORUM ON JUNE 26-27
A Greek Israeli Technology Forum, to be held in Athens June
26-27, will bring together 20 Israeli and more than 30 Greek
companies in the fields of information technology,
telecommunications and new technologies.
According to Oded Distel, Trade Attache at the Israeli
embassy in Greece, the technology forum is a unique opportunity to
expand cooperation, exchange of know-how and creating joint
ventures between Greek and Israeli technology and
telecommunications companies.
The Greek market offers a special opportunity to Israeli
companies ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and the
significant prospects from Greek enterprises' expansion in the
Balkans.
Bilateral trade in technology products totals 300 million US
dollars, while Greek investments to Israel total 30 million US
dollars. Cosmote, Intracom, Intrasoft, InfoQuest, Pouliadis Group,
Interdata, Petrola and Telestet are among the biggest names to
participate in the forum, organized by the Israeli embassy's
export department and SEPE.
[07] "CYPRUS-AEGEAN-THRACE" NULLIFYING DISTANCES
A meeting focusing on the theme "Cyprus-Aegean-Thrace:
Nullifying Distances-Culture-Local Administration-Communication"
is to be held at Aigeiros, in the Rodopi prefecture, from June 19-
22.
The organizers of the meeting are the cultural communication
agencies "Poseidonio of Nicosia" and "Poseidonio of Thrace" and
the municipality of Aigeiros, while the event will be sponsored by
the enlarged Rodopi-Evros prefectural administration.
Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Culture Minister
Evangelos Venizelos and Macedonia-Thrace Minister George
Paschalidis have been invited to attend, while a concert will be
given at Aigeiros on June 21 by well-known Cypriot composer Marios
Tokas.
[08] GREEK, TURKISH FMs TO MEET AT SAMOS, KUSADASI
Foreign Minister George Papandreou is to meet with his
Turkish counterpart Ismael Cem at the island of Samos and the
Turkish navy base at Kusadasi on June 23 and 24, in order to
discuss matters related to commerce.
On the sidelines of the talks between Messrs. Papandreou and
Cem, business delegations from both countries are to discuss means
to strengthen bilateral trade and investments.
[09] OECD: ABOUT A MILLION IMMIGRANTS NOW IN GREECE
In what amounts to about a tenth of the overall population,
Greece is home to between 800,000 and a million immigrants,
according to data provided by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
As reported in the Athens daily "Ethnos", OECD also found
that less than 60 percent of those immigrants who acquired a
"white card" in 1998 proceeded to the next step in the
legalization process, which is the "green card".
Women are most likely to drop out of the race to acquire a
green card, especially in the 15-19 age group where 80 percent of
female applicants abandon the effort, while women between 45-64
are more inclined to "stick to it" with only 36 percent giving up.
The corresponding rates for male green card applicants are 76 and
30 percent.
[10] OVER 1.000 PEOPLE LIVE ON THE STREETS IN GREECE
Over 1.000 people live on streets and city squares in Greece.
Most of them are found in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras and they
are people of different ages who have no home or family. They do
not have money for food, live on handouts or find food at local
administration shelters.
Some of them, are drug addicts without a hope to be included
in a detoxification program, some are elderly people suffering
from deadly diseases and others have ended up on the streets
because for some reason they have lost everything they had.
The information mentioned above is included in a report
published today by the Athens newspaper "TA NEA".
[11] OLYMPIC GAMES ARE A CHALLENGE FOR TRANSPORTATION
Transportation minister Christos Verelis expressed the
government's intention to extend the bus lanes by 45 kilometers by
the year 2003 while the goal is to reach 100 kilometers by 2004.
Speaking in a conference on the Olympic Games transportation
held in Athens, Mr. Verelis referred to the drop in the average
speed limit for the cars moving in Athens, from 20 to 12
kilometers per hour, as a result of the rapid increase in the
number of vehicles moving in the streets of the Greek capital.
"Athens 2004" Olympic committee president Ms. Yianna
Angelopoulou-Daskalakis characterized the Olympic Games as the
biggest challenge for the transportation sector in Greece and
stressed that success in this sector will determine to a great
extend the successful organizing of the games.
[12] LOSSES IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The losses continue in the Athens Stock Exchange. The general
index dropped to -0.57% at 2.843,40 points, while the volume of
transactions was very disappointing at 81.6 million Euro or 27.80
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 173 recorded gains and 144 had
losses, while the value of 76 stocks remained stable.
[13] REPPAS ON THE DECISION OF THE BULGARIAN PEOPLE
The decision of the Bulgarian people has our respect, stated
government spokesman Dimitris Reppas referring to the Bulgarian
elections and the victory of former King Simeon's National
Movement Party.
Mr. Reppas added that the Greek government is waiting for the
formation of the new government for consultations to get underway
aimed at a new period of cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria.
He also pointed out that Greece had the opportunity in the EU
and NATO summits to raise the issue of their enlargement and
Bulgaria's participation in them.
[14] WORLD CONFERENCE OF GREEKS FROM EGYPT
Asia-Africa World Council of Hellenes Abroad, SAE, president
Stephanos Tambakis, who is also the president of the Greek
community in Alexandria, Egypt underlined the big success of the
3rd World Conference of Greeks from Egypt, in statements he made
to MPA.
He stressed that the presence of undersecretary of press
Tilemachos Hitiris, undersecretary of foreign affairs Grigoris
Niotis, general secretary for Greeks abroad Dimitris Dollis and
other local administration representatives in the conference, that
was held in Athens, was very significant. He also said that the
presence of the Patriarch of Alexandria and All of Africa was very
important, adding that his support to the Greek communities was
decisive.
On the Asia-Africa SAE activities, Mr. Tambakis expressed
satisfaction, adding that the adoption of the SAE Youth charter of
operation encourages the young people to strengthen the specific
network. He also said that the Asia-Africa SAE businessmen network
prepares a conference in Cairo and Alexandria to take place in the
fall in cooperation with the Greek embassy and the chambers of
commerce.
Music composer and singer George Moustaki, who was born in
Alexandria, Egypt came from Paris to attend the conference. He
stated to MPA that for him France is his third home country but he
has never forgotten his Greek origin. He said that three
civilizations co-exist peacefully in him namely, the Egyptian, the
Greek and the French, adding that for the French he is always the
Greek from Egypt or the Ptolemi Greek as Tsarouchis (the famous
Greek painter) once had called him.
[15] REPPAS: THE PRIME MINISTER'S JET IS SAFE
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated that the
prime minister's jet is absolutely safe, responding to a question
by a reporter on the occasion of a news report on the Athens
newspaper "Ektropi" according to which, the new "Emprair" jet,
that replaced the "Falcon", had a problem in the May 30 flight
with foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou on board.
Mr. Reppas added that the specific aircraft belongs to the
Air Force, which is responsible for its maintenance, stressing
that it is an excellent choice.
[16] NATO FORCE TO BE DEPLOYED IN FYROM
The developments in FYROM and the participation of Greek
troops in the NATO force that will be deployed in the region, were
examined today in the meeting of prime minister Kostas Simitis
with foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou and minister of defense
Akis Tsochatzopoulos.
In statements he made after the meeting, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos
pointed out that NATO will reach a decision on troop deployment on
Wednesday.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos said that in the meeting were also
examined issues concerning the European Union and Turkey, while an
analysis was made on the future prospects for NATO's cooperation
with the EU within the framework of the joint security and
defense.
Foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou referred to the outcome
of the NATO and EU summit meetings in which the issue of FYROM had
dominated. The Greek foreign minister reiterated that Greece backs
the country's integrity, stressing that the terrorist acts are
condemned and the peaceful solution of the political problems is
supported. He said that these positions were adopted in the summit
meetings, while a common will to offer assistance to FYROM in the
sector of security was expressed.
Concerning the Euro-defense, he stated that this issue has
caused a complication between the EU and NATO especially due to
Turkey's positions. Mr. Papandreou stated that there was no
development last week but the exchange of viewpoints on the
further moves and prospects of this issue, was very useful.
[17] REPPAS' RESPONSE TO THE KOSTUNICA STATEMENTS
There is no such question concerning Greece's integrity,
stated government spokesman Dimitris Reppas when he was asked to
comment on the statement made by Yugoslav president Voislav
Kostunica according to which, the Albanian irredentism is
targeting the Greek Epirus as well.
Mr. Reppas stated that these are the views of the Yugoslav
president, and added that from time to time such positions are
being expressed by groups of the self-styled Chams.
The Greek government spokesman stated that no discussion can
be made on the state of the borders in the region, adding that
history is clear, as clear is the policy followed on the issue by
the governments of the region for years.
[18] INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF COMMUNIST PARTIES IN ATHENS
The 4th annual International Meeting of Communist Parties
will be held in Athens on June 22-24.
The meeting will be held with the participation of 57
Communist parties among them, Communist parties from southeastern
Europe, the US Communist Party, Communist parties from Europe, the
former Soviet Union and Africa.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[19] BULGARIA'S EX-KING RETURNS TO POLITICAL POWER
Bulgaria's former King Simeon II is returning to political
power, the first such feat accomplished by a monarch in ex-
communist Europe, after his resounding victory in yesterday's
general elections.
The 64-year-old Simeon's party, the National Movement,
amassed 45 percent, leaving second the governing Union of
Democratic Forces of Prime Minister Ivan Kostov with 18.40
percent.
Conceding his defeat last night, Mr. Kostov blamed the loss
on the heavy burden of attempts to reform the impoverished
economy.
"We demanded from the Bulgarian people to pay a higher price
than the one they were ready to pay," he stated.
Final official results are expected Wednesday, and it won't
be known until after seats are assigned whether the National
Movement will need a coalition partner to govern.
According to the preliminary results, the Socialist Party
came in third, with 16 percent; followed by the Movement for
Rights and Freedoms, composed mainly of ethnic Turks, which had
4.5 percent; and 4 percent to a new coalition of two center-right
parties, Gergyovden-VMRO.
A total of 50 parties and coalitions ran in the election.
Turnout was about 66 percent.
Simeon acceded to the throne in 1943, at age 6, after the
death of his father, Boris III. He reigned under regents until
1946, when the communists called a referendum that abolished the
monarchy. The royal family went into exile, eventually settling in
Spain.
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