Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 01-03-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] EIGHT INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ARE INTERESTED IN ETBA

[02] INFLATION IS EXPECTED TO DROP IN MARCH

[03] THE THIRD WORLD SUMMIT ON MEDIA FOR CHILDREN IN THESSALONIKI

[04] GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE

[05] THE FYROM REFUGEES ARE 14.000 ACCORDING TO RED CROSS

[06] SIMITIS: STRICT CONTROL AT THE KOSOVO-FYROM BORDERS

[07] THE "15" WILL DISCUSS SIX POINTS IN STOCKHOLM

[08] GROWTH RATE OF 3% IN THE EU THIS YEAR

[01] EIGHT INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ARE INTERESTED IN ETBA

Eight international credit institutions are interested in buying the Greek Bank of Industrial Development (ETBA) majority shares package, but the Greek government has not reached a decision yet on what it will do with the 65% of the bank stocks controlled by the Greek state. For the time being, three scenarios are being considered namely, the sale of the bank, the sale of part of its shares in the stock marker and finally, its merger with another bank.

The eight international credit institutions that have expressed interest in the bank are: the Solomon Smith Barney, JP Morgan, Credit Lyonnais, Sanwa Bank, UBS Warburg, Credit Commerciale de France, Eurocorp and Lazard.

[02] INFLATION IS EXPECTED TO DROP IN MARCH

Inflation in Greece is expected to drop slightly in the month of March unless the price hikes in certain goods keep it at February's levels.

According to the National Statistics Agency, it appears that the drop in the heating oil prices which, however, is counterbalanced by the increase in the prices of fresh fruit and vegetables, will have a positive effect on inflation.

[03] THE THIRD WORLD SUMMIT ON MEDIA FOR CHILDREN IN THESSALONIKI

An appeal calling for the creation of binding proposals for an audio-visual cultural policy and practice that will take under consideration the pros and cons of globalization, was made by acting government spokesman Tilemachos Hitiris, who opened the proceedings of the 3rd World Summit on Media for Children in Thessaloniki today.

The first day of the conference was dedicated to the new reality of globalization and the challenges it creates in the preservation of cultural identities. The 3rd World Summit on Media for Children, which is regarded as one of the most important events at a world level, is an initiative of the European Children Television Center (ECTC) and is organized by the Children's Media Development (CMD). It is placed within the framework of the Cultural Olympiad events and it is held with the participation of 1.000 delegates from every sector of the children audio-visual media world industry.

Among the speakers were the presidents of the three previous conferences namely, Patricia Edgar, Anna Home and Athina Rikakis, followed by Swedish culture minister Marita Ulvskog and Egypt's National Council on Children and Motherhood general secretary Moushira Khattab, who spoke on "Globalization: The challenge in the new millennium".

Among the main speakers in the first session on "Global Culture" were Greek state television ERT president Panagiotis Panagiotou, Walt Disney International TV (Britain) representatives, as well as representatives of the European Commission Education and Culture Secretariat Paul Robinson and Patrick Weinjeimer.

The role of television as the mirror reflecting the contrasts between cultures as well as its role in the upbringing of children was discussed in the "Global TV" unit. Among the speakers were M. Hirsh president of the "Nelvana Enterprises Inc" distribution and production company (Canada), G. Knell, president of the "Sesame Workshop" company (USA) which has created the children's program "Sesame Street", S. Muller, in charge of the ZDF children's program (Germany) and N. Pickard, director of the BBC education program (Britain).

[04] GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE

Gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +0.68% at 3.047,75 points, while the volume of transactions was 197.83 million Euro or 67.41 billion drachmas.

Of the stocks trading today, 185 recorded gains and 142 had losses, while the value of 46 stocks remained stable.

[05] THE FYROM REFUGEES ARE 14.000 ACCORDING TO RED CROSS

Fourteen thousand people in FYROM have abandoned their homes fearing the spread of the armed clashes in different regions in the country, according to official figures provided by the Red Cross.

Officially, 9.197 internal refugees have found refuge in the city of Skopje, 712 ended up in Kumanovo and 700 in Prilep, while hundreds of others are in cities of southeastern FYROM away from the battlefronts.

Meanwhile, the FYROM-Albanian borders have been crossed so far by 6.500 refugees, while 850 have ended up in Kosovo and about 400 went to Croatia.

[06] SIMITIS: STRICT CONTROL AT THE KOSOVO-FYROM BORDERS

Prime minister Kostas Simitis in a press conference he gave in Stockholm this afternoon, where the extraordinary European Council is being held, called for the strict control of Kosovo-FYROM borders.

He said that political talks are necessary with the parties representing the Albanians in FYROM and the Skopje parliament as well as with the rest political parties, in order to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, in a telephone communication Mr. Simitis had yesterday from Stockholm with Bulgarian prime minister Ivan Kostov on the issue of Skopje, they agreed that they should wait for the European Council decisions.

Referring to the meeting of the "15" with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Mr. Simitis said that the Russian president outlined his country's policy on investments, economic stability and development and international relations.

Mr. Simitis stated that the EU-Russia relations are of strategic nature and cooperation is necessary because without Russia there can be no security in Europe.

The prime minister also stated that his government's positions on the social security system have not become concrete yet, while he announced that unemployment in Greece has dropped to 11% from 12%.

Speaking about the liberalization of the markets, the prime minister stressed that liberalization does not mean privatization. He said that the natural gas market will be liberalized in 2006 and that a gradual and controlled opening will be made in the postal services market, while regarding the railway system he said that liberalization will get underway as soon as it will be upgraded.

[07] THE "15" WILL DISCUSS SIX POINTS IN STOCKHOLM

The leaders of the 15 EU member-states will discuss six points in the extraordinary European Council that will take place in Stockholm today and tomorrow.

Specifically, they will discuss the preservation of the recovery of the EU member-states through the newly formed economic policy, the improvement of the job market through better education and training, the tax-relief and wage flexibility, the creation of a single and effective market of money-credit services, the acceleration of structural reforms, the change of direction toward a society of knowledge and the solution of the problem created by the aging population of the EU.

[08] GROWTH RATE OF 3% IN THE EU THIS YEAR

Economic growth of 3% is expected in the European Union this year, according to statements made by European Commissioner Pedro Sobles, responsible for monetary policy issues.

In an interview with the newspaper "La Gaceta", he stated that the EU can achieve economic growth of up to 3%, repeating an earlier statement he had made to the German newspaper "Handelsblatt" last February.

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