The announcement stressed that the facts refute what Mr. Karamanlis said yesterday, regarding the agreements on the Greek Plan for Balkan Reconstruction not being signed by June, since the Foreign Ministry has already submitted the plan drafts to the Par liament.

At the same time it was pointed out that in June and July bilateral agreements will be signed with Balkan countries, while the programme of private productive investments from Greece towards the Balkans will commence on July 1 2002.

"We thus expect New Democracy to repeat its views 'correctly'", ended the Foreign Ministry.

The US Ambassador gave a positive answer to the Minister's request of support in contending to hold the 2007-8 World EXPO Fair in Thessaloniki.

He said there was a lack of regional control in the Stability Pact, and that the Thessaloniki Office is not being utilized to the degree it could be. He was in favor of developing regional cooperation and asked for special attention to be paid to culture

and education, because "if we do not change anything in the new generations, we will achieve nothing".

He noted that the road the Balkans have to walk is long, and what the Stability Pact has achieved is to give a European perspective to countries of Southeastern Europe.

"For years essential decisions have been put off. Months are necessary for a simple delegation of responsibilities. And most importantly, no practical aid has been saved to be given to Balkan countries."

"Besides, with its announcement, the Foreign Ministry contradicts itself, since it postpones the signing of bilateral agreements till July. And of course there has been no specification on when the funds promised to the Balkan countries will have been sa ved, a fact the President of New Democracy referred to".

"In any case, and with the high political, diplomatic and entrepreneurial cost and loss of credibility Greece is suffering from the government's consecutive delays, New Democracy hopes that this is the last postponement, and that the financial aid will h ave indeed been saved up by July, so that Greece's role in the region may finally be reinforced", he ended.

The Greek Minister will meet with US Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, while he will also visit the Pentagon where he will meet with Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Tomorrow, Mr. Papandreou will also meet with US Deputy Secretary of St ate Richard Armitage.

During the weekend, the Minister will travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, where he will be appointed an honorary Doctor of the college he graduated from.

Mr. Papantoniou will have discussions with his FYROM counterpart, Vlado Popovsky, and immediately after that, the two Ministers will hold a press conference. He will then meet with Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski, President of the Parliament Stoyan An tof, and the President of the Republic, Boris Trajkovski as well as leaders of political parties. He will also meet with a three-member delegation of Greek officers serving in the unified NATO Headquarters in Skopje. He will return to Athens late that eve ning.

The request is urgent, since according to the development of the preliminary investigation it is possible, as the District Attorney's document states, that these accounts are related to the legalization of profits from criminal activities, and the reques t wants the information transferred to judicial authorities within 5 days.

In fact, according to the publications of the two newspapers, the preliminary investigation has led to the tracking of $1 million being moved, and the total amount of money transferred from the Liberian company to New Democracy since 1987, is estimated a t $2.5 million.

Following his meeting with the Cypriot President, honorary President of New Democracy Konstantinos Mitsotakis stated that the course of Cyprus' accession is guaranteed, Europe will not back down and Turkey will need to show some common sense on the issue .

Following their meeting, the President of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis stressed that Cyprus can and must be incorporated to the European Union during the Greek Presidency of the EU, and that resolving the Cyprus issue cannot be a prerequisite for acce ssion.

The Coalition's position on Cyprus' accession to the EU, is that it must be unhindered, stated the President of the Coalition of the Left, Nikos Konstantopoulos, after his meeting with Mr. Cleridis.

A reception in honor of the Turkish businessmen will be given by the Turkish Consul in Rhodes today.

The funding is placed within the framework of the special support for the regions that border EU candidate states and will be given to 14 programs which are already in effect.

Mr. Papazachos stated that a precise earthquake prediction is not feasible for now and therefore, the people should not take such press reports seriously. However, Mr. Papazachos did not deny that he had forwarded the document to the responsible authorit ies.

According to a newspaper report, Mr. Papazachos in a confidential document he forwarded to the responsible authorities calls on the state to take urgent measures for the protection of the people from imminent strong earthquakes. According to the report, Mr. Papazachos pinpoints the four regions where earthquakes measuring 7 on the Richter scale are expected to hit in the next 2 years.

Those regions are the Peloponese in southern Greece, the region that includes the island of Crete and the Dodecanese Islands in southeastern Aegean, the region between Albania and FYROM and northwestern Turkey.

Of the stocks trading today, just 48 recorded gains and the overwhelming majority of 285 had losses, while the value of 40 stocks remained unchanged.

According to a statement issued by his office, Mr. Mitsotakis will depart for Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, May 25. He will undergo an operation to treat a ventricular aorta aneurism.

Mr. Beglitis stated that the Greek side would like a mutually acceptable solution but for the moment there are no specific developments on the issue, adding that Athens cannot agree with the unilateral positions expressed by Skopje.

Meanwhile, Greek Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, who is on a one-day visit to Skopje, also referred to the FYROM name, stressing that Greece believes that if the issue is faced as soon as possible it will contribute to the consolidation of stabilit y in the region.

On the proposal made by right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy honorary President Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who called for the governing Socialist Party of PASOK bank accounts to be opened, Mr. Protopapas stated that PASOK has nothing to fear o r hide. He also called on anyone who might have evidence at their possession to bring them to Justice.

The exhibition is organized within the framework of a one-day conference on the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

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