Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 01-11-26

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] HOLY SYNOD STATEMENT ON THE CLONING OF HUMAN EMBRYOS

[02] MEETING ON GREESK OF MAGNA GRECIA

[03] SIMITIS: GREECE WILL HOST HIGH LEVEL OLYMPIC GAMES

[04] SMALL GAINS IN THE ASE

[05] POLIS 2001: THE HEART OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION BEATS IN THESSALONIKI

[06] DEFICIT DECREASE OF 273 MILLION EURO IN THE BALANCE OF CURRENT

[07] BIG DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN THE GREEK-LEBANESE RELATIONS

[08] BEGLITIS: THE ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL STATEMENTS ARE

[09] PAPANDREOU-WALDNER MEETING

[10] LECTURES ON BALKAN PEOPLE

[11] JACQUES ROGGE: THE 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES WILL BE A SUCCESS

[12] UN: GREECE-TURKEY RESOLUTION ON NATURAL DISASTERS

[01] HOLY SYNOD STATEMENT ON THE CLONING OF HUMAN EMBRYOS

The need to protect the moral and spiritual values is underlined by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in a statement on the occasion of the announcement made by a US biotechnology company according to which, it has managed to reproduce the first cloned human embryo.

The Holy Synod statement mentions that the Church supports every scientific effort that promotes health and offers the hope of life, but it also expresses its sensitivity regarding the need to protect the eternal moral and spiritual values.

[02] MEETING ON GREESK OF MAGNA GRECIA

A meeting on Greek speaking residents of Magna Grecia is being organized by the University of Macedonia in cooperation with the Byzantium Soroptimist Club and the Municipality of Thermi, at 7pm in the Ceremony Amphitheater.

An event-concert will take place on the same issue, on Thursday at 8:30pm, in the Theater room of the Thermi Cultural Center. The event being organized by the Municipality of Thermi in the framework of fraternization with the Condofuri Municipality of Magna Grecia, includes book presentations of The Acropolis of Magna Grecia and Modern Greek Poetry in Lower Italy, while the Trip to Magna Grecia documentary will be shown.

In the framework of the artistic program, the Cum. El. Ca. (Greek-speaking Community of Calabrya) music group will perform with folk songs, tarantellas in Grekanic dialect, accompanied by the tamburello (tambourine), the organeto (accordion), and the tsamponia (bagpipes).

[03] SIMITIS: GREECE WILL HOST HIGH LEVEL OLYMPIC GAMES

The assurance that Greece will organize high level Olympic Games was given by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis in statements he made after the ministerial committee meeting on the 2004 Olympic Games that was held today. The meeting was held to assess the two-day visit to Athens by International Olympic Committee, IOC, Coordinating Committee president Dennis Oswald. The Prime Minister stated that the Olympic Games is a national affair and issued an appeal to keep it away from political disputes and political party exploitation.

Mr. Simitis said that the Athens 2004 Olympic Games preparations procedure is a difficult and extremely complex work in which many people are involved. He stated that the initiatives undertaken in the coordination of the efforts made are aimed at the creative combination of the different roles undertaken by the government, the agencies active around it and the "Athens 2004" Organizing Committee, always in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee.

[04] SMALL GAINS IN THE ASE

Small gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +0.41% at 2.685,93 points, while the volume of transactions was at 156 million Euro or 53 billion drachmas.

Of the stocks trading today, 171 recorded gains and 150 had losses, while the value of 42 stocks remained unchanged.

[05] POLIS 2001: THE HEART OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION BEATS IN THESSALONIKI

The heart of local administration will beat in Thessaloniki in the period November 29 through December 2 in the 3rd international exhibition POLIS 2001.

The POLIS exhibition is held every two years in 8 pavilions occupying a space of 11.000 square meters. A total of 653 direct and indirect exhibitors will take part in this year's event.

Specifically, in the event will participate 595 Greek and 58 foreign exhibitors representing 11 countries namely, Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Italy, Russia, and FYROM.

[06] DEFICIT DECREASE OF 273 MILLION EURO IN THE BALANCE OF CURRENT TRANSACTIONS

The current transactions balance in the month of September had a deficit of 594 million Euro, lower by 47 million Euro, compared to the same period last year, according to an announcement by the Bank of Greece.

Also, the deficit in the current transactions balance was lower by 273 million Euro in the nine-month period of January-September 2001 and reached 4.977 billion Euro compared to the same period last year.

The positive development in the month of September is associated with the trade balance improvement and the surplus increase in the balance of transfers.

[07] BIG DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN THE GREEK-LEBANESE RELATIONS

The prospects for economic and trade cooperation between Greece and Lebanon were discussed today by Thessaloniki Commerce and Industry Chamber President Dimitris Bakatselos and Lebanese ambassador William Habib.

Both sides stressed that bilateral trade transactions are not at a satisfactory level and therefore, there is huge potential for their further improvement.

Mr. Habib conveyed to Mr. Bakatselos the wish expressed by his country's businessmen for cooperation deals with their Greek colleagues mainly, in the sectors of building material supplies, as huge projects are in progress in Lebanon for the construction of infrastructure and housing settlements.

In the meeting an agreement was reached on two business missions to be held in Beirut and Thessaloniki.

[08] BEGLITIS: THE ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL STATEMENTS ARE UNFOUNDED

Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis characterized as unfounded the Italian Foreign Ministry official statements according to which, an alleged political deficit in Greece and Cyprus makes them unable to deal with organized crime and illegal trade.

Mr. Beglitis stressed that it is unacceptable for a politician, member of the Italian government, to turn against Greece and Cyprus repeatedly by making unfounded statements.

Mr. Beglitis said that the Italian Foreign Ministry official should be more careful when he refers to Greece and Cyprus, adding that he should be aware of the fact that there is a contractual framework between Greece and Italy concerning organized crime and illegal trade and therefore, all accusations made by him from time to time are unfounded.

[09] PAPANDREOU-WALDNER MEETING

Bilateral relations and their further development at an economic and cultural level, the developments in the Balkans, the international developments in the light of the events of the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States as well as, Cyprus' EU accession course will be in the agenda of the talks that will take place tomorrow evening between Foreign Ministers of Greece and Austria Giorgos Papandreou and Benita-Maria Ferrero Waldner respectively.

Mr. Papandreou and Ms. Waldner will also discuss the future of Europe and issues concerning the joint EU foreign policy and policy of defense.

[10] LECTURES ON BALKAN PEOPLE

The lectures on Distant neighbors: economic, social and cultural approaches organized by the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Eastern Studies of the University of Macedonia are continuing in the Ceremony room of the AUTh. The lectures are on countries and peoples, which, while they are geographically close to Greece, seem exotic and distant due to lack of information of the Greek public.

The series will include lectures on culture, social organization, economy, and political systems of peoples of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Near East. It is mainly aimed at students of the Balkan, Slavic and Eastern Studies Department.

In the framework of the series, a lecture will be given tomorrow at 8pm, on Afghan Illegal Immigrants in Greece Today, by the Consultant of Legal Protection and Education of the UN High Commission for Refugees, Petros Mastakas.

[11] JACQUES ROGGE: THE 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES WILL BE A SUCCESS

A significant progress has been made in the Greek preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games as it was evident by the detailed report drawn up by the International Olympic Committee, IOC, Coordinating Committee which visited Athens last week. The above were stated by IOC President Jacques Rogge, who stressed that if the preparations continue in the same pace the 2004 Olympic Games will be a success.

Mr. Rogge presided over the International Center of Olympic Truce Executive Committee meeting in Lauzanne for the first time. The committee vice-president Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou presented the Greek initiative for the observance of Olympic Truce during the 2004 Olympic Games. A special emphasis was given to the briefing of the people all over the world on the Greek initiative.

Mr. Rogge is scheduled to meet with US President George Bush with whom he will discuss the Greek initiative on Olympic Truce and the observance of a ceasefire in every war-torn region in the world.

[12] UN: GREECE-TURKEY RESOLUTION ON NATURAL DISASTERS

A resolution plan on dealing with natural disasters, being promoted in common by Turkey and Greece, will be discussed today at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

With the resolution plan the General Assembly among other things:

- Expresses its solidarity towards other countries that have suffered natural disasters.

- Expresses its appreciation towards all countries of the international community, international organizations, international and non-governmental organizations, as well as individuals, which offered help to areas that were struck by natural disasters.

- Notes the progress achieved by the Greek and Turkish governments, in cooperation with the Coordination Office of Humanitarian Affairs of the UN Secretariat, on the creation of a joint Greek-Turkish standby unit for dealing with natural disasters, which will begin functioning in the near future, without financially burdening the UN project budget.

- Asks the Secretary General through the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to continue to work on the procedure of using the standby unit for dealing with natural disasters by the UN system, and also

- Asks the Secretary General to mention the progress of the application of the specific resolution at the 57th General Assembly.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article