Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 00-11-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: THE PARLIAMENT WILL RATIFY THE TREATY ON THE ABOLITION

[02] REPPAS ON THE STATEMENTS MADE BY MILUTINOVIC

[03] SAE MET IN THESSALONIKI YESTERDAY

[04] OTE IS AN OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF "ATHENS 2004"

[05] MPA HOLDS INTER-BALKAN MEDIA CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK

[06] GREEK INITIATIVES FOR COMMON BALKAN POSITION

[07] POLYTECHNIC MARCHES TAKE PLACE TODAY

[08] THE 1ST EXHIBITION OF GREEK COMPANIES OPENED IN TURKEY

[09] NEW MEASURES IN THE GREEK CONSULATE IN PLOVDIV FOR THE ISSUING OF VISAS

[10] AVRAMOPOULOS TO VISIT SKOPJE TODAY

[11] INFLATION OF 2.7% IN THE EURO-ZONE IN OCTOBER

[12] ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN MEETING WILL BE HELD IN ATHENS

[13] KOSTUNICA: GREECE IS THE WINDOW TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR BELGRADE

[14] ΝΕΕΣ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΣΕΙΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ INTERNET

[01] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: THE PARLIAMENT WILL RATIFY THE TREATY ON THE ABOLITION OF LANDMINES UNDER CERTAIN PRECONDITIONS

Greece meets its obligation based on the Ottawa Treaty which it has signed and is not supplied with land mines. On the contrary, it has started the gradual destruction of the existing minefields given the fact that Turkey has not signed the specific treaty, stated minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos in parliament.

He also gave the assurance that the Greek government will ratify the treaty based on humanitarian reasons and if the necessary preconditions are formed.

Mr. Tsochatzopoulos stated that Turkey has not signed the treaty and expressed the hope that the improvement of the Greek-Turkish relations will contribute to having positive results on the specific issue.

[02] REPPAS ON THE STATEMENTS MADE BY MILUTINOVIC

There is no evidence leading to the conclusion that the Serb president or any other official have bank accounts or assets in Greece, of such a kind that can be checked, stressed Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas when asked to comment on whether the Greek government has checked the finances of Serb president Milan Milutinovic, as he has stated himself in an interview with the Athens newspaper "Ethnos".

Mr. Reppas underlined that specific decisions have been reached within the framework of the EU on the assets of officials that are included in a specific list. The Bank of Greece is in cooperation with the bank institutions of the other EU countries for the handling of such issues. Mr. Reppas stated that there is no evidence leading to the conclusion that the specific official has bank accounts in Greece.

When asked to comment on the statement of Mr. Milutinovic that the visit of Greek minister of national economy Yiannos Papantoniou to the Balkans was like a tour of a movie star, he responded that the presence of Greece in the Balkans and the recognition of its important role in south eastern Europe by the EU and the United States is due to a great degree to the way in which the Greek ministers participated in the developments in the Balkan states namely, by visiting them and holding talks with their leaderships and the social and economic officials. Without this strong presence, said Mr. Reppas, it would have been impossible for Greece to undertake the initiatives that led to the vindication of its policy.

[03] SAE MET IN THESSALONIKI YESTERDAY

World Council of Hellenes Abroad, SAE, met in Thessaloniki yesterday to discuss the organizing of its young members and its networks, while the preparations for December's general assembly are underway in which the main topics of discussion will be the developments in the United States, the US-Greek relations and the Cyprus issue.

SAE will also have contacts with government officials and political party representatives for the better organizing of the assembly.

New undersecretary of foreign affairs Grigoris Niotis was also present in the general assembly and stated that Thessaloniki is an international networks' organizing center that will lead to the development of Greece's relations with the new international environment taking advantage of the power the Greeks living abroad have.

[04] OTE IS AN OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF "ATHENS 2004"

Greek Telecommunications Organization, OTE, will be the official sponsor of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 after the agreement signed by "Athens 2004" Organization president Ms. Yianna Angelopoulou-Daskalakis with OTE president Nikos Manasis in the presence of minister transportation and telecommunications Christos Verelis.

The specific sponsorship is expected to play a big role in the Athens Olympic Games due to the services it will have to offer in the games.

The "Athens 2004" Organizing Committee Board of Directors was also briefed on the developments concerning the rest of the sponsorships.

[05] MPA HOLDS INTER-BALKAN MEDIA CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK

Directors and Chief Editors of the 60 largest mass media organisations in the Balkans, as well as top technical executives involved in the latest developments within new technologies and the Internet will attend the 6th Inter-Balkan Journalists Conference, being held by the Macedonian Press Agency next Friday and Saturday (November 24th and 25th) in Thessaloniki.

The conference will focus on "New media technologies for the development of cooperation in Southeastern Europe" and will include speeches by media directors and representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Kosovo-Yugoslavia, Moldavia, FYROM, Romania, Turkey and Greece.

The formal opening ceremony will take place at 5pm on Friday November 24th and will include introductory speeches by specialists on the latest technological Internet developments.

The conference will be sponsored by the Greek National Tourist Organisation (EOT), the Greek Telecommunications Company (OTE), Olympic Aviation, the Commercial Bank, the Inter-Balkan Medical Center, Tax-Free Goods Center (KAE), the Greek Investments Center (ELKE), the Centre for Inter-Balkan Cooperation and the technical companies CIN and ATC.

[06] GREEK INITIATIVES FOR COMMON BALKAN POSITION

The Foreign minister of Skopje, Alexander Dimitrov will visit Athens on Tuesday, together with his Yugoslavian counterpart Goran Svilanovic, where they will meet with Greek Foreign minister George Papandreou.

The talks will aim to exchange views for the reorganisation of the Balkans, in preparation for the European Union summit due to be held in Zagreb at the end of next week.

Top of the summit's agenda will be the financial regulations for the years 2002-2006, which is expected to include an allocation of 4.6 billion euros.

Greek diplomats have promoted the idea of organising a meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Skopje before next Wednesday to formulate a common position that will then be conveyed to the European delegation at the summit.

[07] POLYTECHNIC MARCHES TAKE PLACE TODAY

The citizens of Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities are today celebrating the anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising, with student marches taking place all over the country.

The Polytechnic of Athens will shut its doors at 1pm and the march towards the American embassy will begin at 4pm. The Greek police force has ordered 3.000 policemen to be onguard during the march, in order to deal with any possible problems.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis stated that the Polytechnic continues to symbolise the struggle, ideology and values of today's youth and other political leaders forwarded their messages and wreaths in honour of the anniversary.

[08] THE 1ST EXHIBITION OF GREEK COMPANIES OPENED IN TURKEY

The 1st Exhibition of Greek Companies, in which participate 100 exhibitors, was inaugurated yesterday in Istanbul in the presence of minister of Macedonia-Thrace Giorgos Paschalidis. The exhibition will last until November 19. The Turkish government was represented by Ms. Sibel Akcaharman, an official at the country's international trade undersecretaryship and not by a government minister.

Speaking in the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Paschalidis stated that by the end of 2000 the overall volume of transactions between Greece and Turkey will be over USD1.1 billion, adding that the improvement in the economic climate can help in the improvement of the political climate.

Turkish-Greek Business Council president Sarik Tara expressed the view that the revenues of Greece and Turkey could have been over USD100 billion if the political problems that were presented in the last decade had been faced.

From his side, the Greek-Turkish Business Council Panagiotis Koutsikos stressed that the trade transactions between the two countries reached USD500 million in the first half of the current year showing an increase of 35%.

Finally, Giorgos Sortikos, president of Thessaloniki's International Trade Fair that organized the exhibition, pointed out that it is inconceivable to have the administrative borders between the two countries block the development of business cooperation and gave the assurance that the 2nd Exhibition of Greek Companies in Turkey will be much bigger.

[09] NEW MEASURES IN THE GREEK CONSULATE IN PLOVDIV FOR THE ISSUING OF VISAS

Greece's position that favors the abolition of the visa requirement for the Bulgarians was expressed by Greek foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou in a letter addressed to his Bulgarian counterpart Ms. Nadezda Michailova.

Mr. Papandreou in his letter praises the excellent bilateral relations and expresses Greece's positive view of the initiatives undertaken in Bulgaria in the sectors of justice and internal affairs as well as for the measures taken in the country regarding the customs checks.

It should be reminded, that minister of justice Michalis Stathopoulos had backed the abolition of the visa requirement for the Bulgarian citizens in an EU summit meeting last September.

Meanwhile, Sofia newspaper "Monitor" writes that Greece's new consul general in Plovdiv, Bulgaria Mr. Yiannis Rizopoulos has banned the entry of tourist agencies representatives in the consulate in order to stop them from overcharging the people who want to travel to Greece and give their passports to the travel agencies to get them a visa. As it was made known, anyone who wants to travel to Greece and needs a visa must come in person to the consulate with their passport. The issuing of a visa for Greece costs DM 33 and the intermediaries charge up to USD100-250.

[10] AVRAMOPOULOS TO VISIT SKOPJE TODAY

The Mayor of Athens, Dimitris Avramopoulos, will visit Skopje today, where he will participate in the three day forum being held for cities and regions in Southeastern Europe.

Mr Avramopoulos will meet with FYROM president Boris Trajkovski and with the country's Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, as well as with the Mayor of Skopje, Pisto Penev.

[11] INFLATION OF 2.7% IN THE EURO-ZONE IN OCTOBER

Inflation was at 2.7% in the Euro-zone countries in October compared to 2.8% in September, according to figures provided by the European Union Statistics Agency, Eurostat.

The small drop in the inflation percentage in the Euro-zone countries is due mainly to the 0.8% decline in the energy sector prices compared to the previous month of September.

The highest inflation rates in the EU countries were recorded in Ireland 6%, Luxembourg 4.3% and Spain 4%, while the smallest were in Britain 1% and in Sweden 1.3%. It should be noted that these two countries have not joined the single currency.

In all the EU states, the consumer goods prices were increased by 2.4% in October compared to the same period last year.

[12] ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN MEETING WILL BE HELD IN ATHENS

The crisis in the Middle East and the new wave of violence in the region were discussed in the 4th summit of the foreign ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation states that was held in Marseilles.

Greece was represented by foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou, who announced that a meeting of Israelis and Palestinians will soon be held in Athens. Mr. Papandreou pointed out that a similar initiative had been launched in the past and added that the Greek proposal was received in a positive way both by the Israeli and the Palestinian side.

On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Papandreou had a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem and he also had contacts with his Arab and European counterparts. Mr. Papandreou reiterated to his European counterparts the Greek positions on the EU-Turkey partnership relation text that will be discussed in the EU general affairs council on Monday.

[13] KOSTUNICA: GREECE IS THE WINDOW TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR BELGRADE

In exclusive statements to Duetsche Welle, Yugoslav president Voislav Kostunica referred to the special relation between Athens and Belgrade, saying that the relations between Yugoslavia and Greece were always positive and friendly and Athens was always some kind of a window to the outside world for Belgrade even in the period of the international sanctions.

The Yugoslav president also stated that definitely there is greater potential for better relations with the lifting of the sanctions and the opening of Yugoslavia to the world and Europe's opening to Yugoslavia. On the other hand, said Mr. Kostunica, Greece also had a very important role in the procedure for Yugoslavia's transition to a democratic status.

[14] ΝΕΕΣ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΣΕΙΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ INTERNET

Νέες καταλήξεις για διευθύνσεις στο Ιnternet ανακοίνωσε ο οργανισμός Ιcann ο οποίος ευθύνεται για την ονομασία ιδιωτικών σελίδων στο διαδίκτυο, με αποτέλεσμα να επεκτείνει την επιλογή διευθύνσεων.

Ο Ιcann επέλεξε τις νέες καταλήξεις, οι οποίες είναι .info, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop, .biz, και .name, από 200 και πλέον προτάσεις, για να δημιουργηθούν περισσότερες διαδικτυανκές διευθύνσεις, αφού οι 20 εκατομμύρια διευθύνσεις που ήδη υπάρχουν δεν είναι αρκετές.

Οι εταιρίες που υπέβαλαν τις επιλεγμένες καταλήξεις, έχουν το δικαίωμα να αγοράσουν την ιδιοκτησία του βιβλίου μητρώου της κατάληξης που πρότειναν, για 50.000 δολάρια, ενώ έχουν το δικαίωμα να χρεώσουν τους ιδιοκτήτες των διευθύνσεων που χρησιμοποιούν την κατάληξή τους.

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