The Minister of Culture will be present at a meeting between UEFA and the two countries' football federations, on the promotion of the joint organizing of the 2008 EURO by Greece and Turkey.

Mr. Venizelos will visit Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Vartholomeos in his seat in the Fanari, while he will also meet with Minister of State in charge of sports, Erdojan Toprak.

Mr. Venizelos will also be present at the signing of the Olympic Truce by the Presidents of the two football federations.

Tomorrow morning, Mr. Saxe Coburg Gotha will participate in the works of the Financial Forum organized by the Bulgarian Embassy, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, and the Minister of Development, Akis Tsochatzopoulos.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister will then meet with the President of the Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis.

There will then be a private meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, discussions between delegations of the two countries and the signing of pacts in the presence of the two Prime Ministers, who will then hold a joint press conference. In the afternoon, t he Bulgarian Prime Minister will attend a luncheon held by Prime Minister Simitis in his honor.

The Bulgarian PM will also have meetings with the Head of the Opposition Kostas Karamanlis and the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, and will depart from Athens on that evening.

During the discussions of the heads of state in Cape Town, the close ties between South Africa and Greece and the similar approach Athens and Cape Town have on issues of common interest, were confirmed. Special attention was also paid to the promotion of

the cooperation between Europe and Africa, during the Greek Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2003, and the South African Presidency in the "African Union" during the same year.

Mr. Stefanopoulos and Mr. Mbeki discussed international problems, such as the Middle East, the Cyprus issue and problems with Iraq.

PHILOXENIA is annually organized by HELEXPO, under the aegis of the Greek Tourism Organization, while this year it retains the quality, size and dynamics of a major exhibit in the tourism market, despite the international crisis in the tourism sector thi s last year.

According to information so far, the 18th PHILOXENIA will host 655 exhibitors, of whom 535 are from Greece and the remaining 120 are from 38 different countries, namely: Egypt, Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Switzerland , the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Spain, India, Iran, Italy, Kuwait, Croatia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Great Britain, Malta, Bahrain, Norway, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the Czech Repu blic and Finland.

Mr. Kaklamanis stated that when Greece held the EU Presidency in 1994 promoted the partnership relation and cooperation agreement with Ukraine and pointed out that during the Greek EU Presidency in the first half of 2003 Greece will contribute to the eff orts for the promotion of the EU-Ukraine relations.

The Greek Parliament President also referred to the very good relations between Greece and Ukraine and underlined that they can improve even further at parliament and state level, as well as in international organizations.

From his side, the Ukrainian Parliament President thanked Mr. Kaklamanis for Greece's moral and tangible support in the country's course to become part of the European structures. He also expressed the wish of the Ukrainian people and the country's leade rship to further develop bilateral relations at economic, cultural and education level.

Referring to the issue that arose on the occasion of the 8th Conference on the Earth's Climate in New Delhi, Mr. Balafoutis stressed that the mechanisms of the atmosphere do not allow the arrival of the Asian cloud in the Mediterranean.

He stated that even in the case that the cloud travels around the planet and arrives in Europe it will be so weakened that it will not constitute a threat.

The new prediction on the growth rate is lower and constitutes a more realistic reflection of the prospects of the Greek economy in the turbulent international environment, stated Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis after the meeting he had yesterday with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis.

The general index rose to +0.16% at 1.785,28 points, while the volume of transactions was satisfactory at 79.2 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 217 recorded gains and 92 had losses, while the value of 66 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Filis visited the Albanian Finance Ministry today accompanied by the bank's Senior Operation Officer, Mrs. Sylvana Sejko. Mr. Filis had a warm discussion with Mr. Malaj, who thanked him for the National Bank of Greece offer.

Mr. Filis stated that this gesture in the form of humanitarian assistance is a proof of the excellent relations and friendship ties shared by the two peoples. He concluded by stating that the National Bank of Greece will continue to assist Albania in its

effort to achieve further economic development, while it will undertake parallel social action whenever is necessary.

The specific development, which was expected by the responsible analysts, is mainly due to the increase in the liquid fuel and food prices.

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