Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 00-03-14

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] SCHOOL IN CAMEROON NAMED AFTER THESSALONIKI

[02] MEETING UNDER MR. PAPANTONIOU ON THE REFORM OF THE ATHENS STOCK

[03] Α. ΚΑΚΛΑΜΑΝΗΣ: Ο ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΙΚΑΝΟΣ ΙΕΡΑΡΧΗΣ

[04] PAPANDREOU MET WITH THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL SPECIAL ENVOY TO CYPRUS

[05] "BLACK TUESDAY" FOR THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE WITH LOSSES OF 6.60%

[06] THE PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN PERIOD WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED TODAY

[07] GREECE WILL BECOME THE 12TH MEMBER OF THE EMU

[08] ALBANIA IS THE COUNTRY WITH THE MOST IMMIGRANTS ABROAD

[09] ATTACKS AGAINST THE GREEK PRESS OFFICE IN SKOPJE

[01] SCHOOL IN CAMEROON NAMED AFTER THESSALONIKI

The children of Cameroon intend to give the name "Thessaloniki" to the new school building they will soon have with the economic assistance of the people of the northern Greek city.

Charity organization "The friends of Africa" president Antonis Mouzela will leave for Cameroon on Thursday to meet with the regional chief in the city of Camba to discuss the issue of the construction of the new school building.

Mr. Mouzela's trip to Cameroon will take place with the support of undersecretary of finance Christos Pachtas.

[02] MEETING UNDER MR. PAPANTONIOU ON THE REFORM OF THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE

Measures for the reform of the Athens Stock Exchange were discussed at noon today in the meeting of minister of national economy Yiannos Papantoniou with the governors of the National Bank of Greece Theodoros Karatzas, Agriculture Bank Mr. Lambrou and Commercial Bank Mr. Georgousakos as well as, with Athens Stock Exchange president Spiros Kouniakis and Capital Market Committee president Mr. Thomadakis.

In statements he made afterwards, Mr. Papantoniou referred to the developments in the Athens Stock Exchange and pointed out that if the stock market is involved into politics the consequences can only be negative. He also called on small investors not to be affected by political rumors on the Athens Stock Exchange and stated that the negative picture in the stock market is unjustified given the fact that the course of the economy is positive.

[03] Α. ΚΑΚΛΑΜΑΝΗΣ: Ο ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΙΚΑΝΟΣ ΙΕΡΑΡΧΗΣ

"O Αρχιεπίσκοπος κ. Χριστόδουλος είναι ένας ικανός ιεράρχης", δήλωσε ο πρόεδρος της βουλής Απόστολος Κακλαμάνης, απαντώντας σε ερώτηση δημοσιογράφου για σχετική συνέντευξή του, που δημοσιεύεται σήμερα στην εφημερίδα ''Το Έθνος". "Είναι ικανότατος και θα είναι κρίμα αν οι ικανότητές του, τα προσόντα που διαθέτει δεν αποβούν προς όφελος της Εκκλησίας. Αυτό δεν είναι θέμα που αφορά μόνο τον ίδιο, αλλά και τα μέλη της ιεραρχίας και ολόκληρο το πλήρωμα της Εκκλησίας", συμπλήρωσε ο κ. Κακλαμάνης.

Ο πρόεδρος της Βουλής διευκρίνισε ότι όσα αναφέρονται στη συνέντευξη, "δεν αποτελούν βολές κατά της Εκκλησίας ή προσωπικά κατά του Αρχιεπισκόπου, όπως ίσως νομίσει κανείς αν δεν διαβάσει το περιεχόμενο της συνέντευξης και σταθεί μόνο στον τίτλο της εφημερίδας. Είναι διαπιστώσεις, που όφειλα και ως μέλος του πληρώματος της Εκκλησίας να διατυπώσω".

[04] PAPANDREOU MET WITH THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL SPECIAL ENVOY TO CYPRUS

The developments in the Cyprus issue, the Greek-Turkish relations and Turkey's EU accession course were discussed today in the meeting of Greek foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou with UN secretary-general special envoy to Cyprus Mr. De Soto.

In statements he made after the meeting, Mr. Papandreou pointed out that Turkey's European course gives a new momentum to the overall framework of the solution of the Cyprus issue.

From his side, Mr. De Soto pointed out that for the moment the appropriate preconditions for the opening of direct negotiations on Cyprus are absent, adding that the proximity talks can bring results and prepare the ground for the solution of the problem.

[05] "BLACK TUESDAY" FOR THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE WITH LOSSES OF 6.60%

Investors in the Athens Stock Exchange had a "Black Tuesday" today as the general index dived to 6.60% losing over 320.90 points compared to last Friday's session.

In spite of the especially positive news from the "front" of the economy, the general index at some point recorded losses of up to 7.29% today, dropping to 4.509 points. However, in the last minutes of the session it regained part of its losses and closed at 4.542,65 points with the volume of transactions limited to 165 billion drachmas.

Today's mini-crash was a surprise for all as the Athens Stock Exchange was expected to react positively to the upgrading of Greece's loan taking ability from the international house of economic evaluations FITCH IBCA, while a boost was expected to be given by the SALOMON SMITH BARNEY report on the attractiveness of the Greek stocks.

Stock market circles in an attempt to interpret the unreasonable behavior of the Greek stock market attribute the phenomenon to the fact that investors are rushing to sell their stocks regardless of sector, while a farfetched scenario even speaks about investors who sell just to get out of the stock market.

Meanwhile, the special internal investigation continues in the Athens Stock Exchange aimed at clarifying the causes that led to the unexplained losses recorded last Thursday during the speech of the prime minister announcing that Greece has submitted its application to join the EMU.

[06] THE PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN PERIOD WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED TODAY

Prime minister Kostas Simitis, who visited president Kostis Stephanopoulos after the last cabinet meeting today, stated that this is a very important day. He said that today signals the end of a very fertile historic circle, characterized by Greece's application for EMU membership and the Helsinki EU summit meeting.

Mr. Simitis also referred to the positive comments made by the Portuguese EU presidency in the ECOFIN meeting concerning Greece's application to join the EMU.

Meanwhile, president of the republic Kostis Stephanopoulos signed today the presidential decree for the dissolution of the Greek parliament officially opening the pre-election campaign period.

[07] GREECE WILL BECOME THE 12TH MEMBER OF THE EMU

Greece will become the 12th member of the EMU in the Porto EU summit meting that will take place on June 19-20 stated yesterday Portugal's representative in the finance ministers council meeting, stressing that the ECOFIN members are impressed with the big progress achieved by the Greek economy in a very short period of time.

Greek minister of national economy and finance Yiannos Papantoniou stated that by June 5 many meetings will be held in which Greece will explain the kind and the extend of the structural changes it intends to adopt in the sector of economy.

[08] ALBANIA IS THE COUNTRY WITH THE MOST IMMIGRANTS ABROAD

Albania is the European country with the most immigrants abroad, according to a research conducted by the Economic and Social Studies Center in Tirana.

According to the data gathered by the center, a total of 800-900 thousand Albanians have immigrated abroad in search of a better life and most of them live in Greece, adding that 40% of the immigrants are intellectuals.

It is worth to note that the emigration of Albanians is on the rise and according to official data, in 1999 increased by 4.2% compared to 1998.

It is estimated that 400-550 thousand Albanian immigrants are in Greece, 150-300 thousand in Italy, 15.000 in Germany, 3.000 in Belgium, 3.500 in France, 3.000 in Turkey, while several thousand are estimated to have immigrated to Canada, Switzerland and the United States.

According to the available data, 67% of the immigrants are men and children and 33% are women, while 50% of them are under the age of 40.

[09] ATTACKS AGAINST THE GREEK PRESS OFFICE IN SKOPJE

The Greek Press Office in Skopje, FYROM has repeatedly become the target of extremist attacks lately, with the most recent one occurring last Friday evening when unidentified individuals climbed to the building's first floor, removed the Greek flag and destroyed its mast.

Last December, extremists had climbed again to the Greek Press Office balcony where they removed and burned the Greek flag on the spot, while just recently other individuals, who are yet to be identified, threw beer bottles against the building's glass door smashing it.

Questions are raised over the fact that even though the building, where the Greek Press Office is housed, is guarded by police, the perpetrators of all three attacks were able to act without being noticed and were not arrested.

A systematic effort to create an anti-Greek climate in the country is being made in recent months by certain circles, which are annoyed by the impressive improvement of the relations between Greece and FYROM.

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