Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 00-10-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] GREEK PM TO MEET WITH CLERIDES NEXT MONTH

[02] MPA MOURNS LOSS OF ITS PRESIDENT PAVLOS PETRIDES

[03] PRESIDENT OF MPA, P. PETRIDES, PASSES AWAY

[04] US PRESIDENT CLINTON ON CYPRUS ISSUE

[01] GREEK PM TO MEET WITH CLERIDES NEXT MONTH

Prime Minister Costas Simitis will be meeting

with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Cyprus Parliament speaker Spyros Kyprianou in mid November, immediately after the end of the fifth round of Cyprus proximity talks in Geneva.

According to press reports, the meeting will be held in order to assess the results of the talks and decide a joint strategy in view of the EU summit in Nice in December, which President Clerides will also attend, and the UN resolution on whether to renew the term

of the UN peace-keeping force UNFICYP on Cyprus.

The meeting between Messrs. Simitis and Kyprianou is scheduled for November 13, while the next day there will be a meeting at Mr. Simitis' office with President Clerides.

A.F.

[02] MPA MOURNS LOSS OF ITS PRESIDENT PAVLOS PETRIDES

The Macedonian Press Agency is mourning the loss of the president of its board of directors professor Pavlos Petrides, who died early Saturday morning from heart failure at the age of 54. He will be laid to rest on Tuesday, October 31, in Thessaloniki.

The MPA will honor its president after a series of resolutions drawn at a special board session wherein it decided that the entire board will attend his funeral together. The board members also decided that an annual GRD500,000 award of ethics and integrity will be established in the honor of the late Petrides, to be bestowed upon MPA staff.

Statements of condolences have been issued by a great number of parliamentarians -representing the full spectrum of Greek political parties- and PASOK officials, all of whom express their profound sadness for the early loss of professor Petrides.

A.F.

[03] PRESIDENT OF MPA, P. PETRIDES, PASSES AWAY

The President of the Macedonian Press Agency's Board of Directors, professor Pavlos Petrides, died on October 28 from heart failure. He was 54 years old.

A distinguished scholar and academic, professor Petrides taught civic and constitutional history at the Law School of Thessaloniki's Aristotle University, while he had also collaborated with the University of Vienna and numerous other academic institutions.

Prior to undertaking the chairmanship of MPA's Board of Directors in 1994, professor Petrides had also served as president of the National Lyrical Stage and the State School of Orchestral Art, as well as vice-president of "George Papandreou Foundation".

During the scope of his tenure as president of the Macedonian Press Agency, professor Petrides instrumentally contributed to the organization's rapid development and institutional advancement, thus propelling the MPA's present status as a leading source of news pertaining to the Balkans, regional economies, and the Greek community abroad.

With his invaluable guidance and input, the MPA organized four successful Balkan conferences themed after regional cooperation, as well as two symposiums concerning Rigas Velestinlis and Eleftherios Venizelos-Alexandros Papanastasiou.

A prolific writer, professor Petrides authored over 40 books, the majority of which pertain to modern Greek history, particularly the European policy of Greece's first president Ioannis Kapodistrias, the civil war period (1943-50), George Papandreou and the Cyprus issue (1954-65), etc.

His funeral will be held on October 31, 2 p.m. at the Church of Aghia Sophia in Thessaloniki. He is survived by his wife Lina.

A.F.

[04] US PRESIDENT CLINTON ON CYPRUS ISSUE

Following a White House press conference on Friday, US President Bill Clinton expressed his regret that "the lack of progress in the Cyprus issue was one of the few "real disappointments I have, after eight years of working in the foreign policy field."

Vowing that he would continue working on the problem even after leaving office, Mr. Clinton stated that "entrenched and immovable positions in Cyprus," were keeping "Turkey more at arm's length from Europe."

The Greek-American organization National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH), welcomed Mr. Clinton's remarks as tacit recognition that Turkey could not become a member of the European Union until the Cyprus problem had been solved.

A.F.

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