Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-01-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] 10-DIGIT PHONE NUMBERS PUT IN EFFECT

[02] GREECE-US AHEAD IN TOURISM

[03] TURKISH TRAFFICKERS ARRESTED

[04] REACTIONS TO ALPHA BANK - ETE "DIVORCE"

[01] 10-DIGIT PHONE NUMBERS PUT IN EFFECT

The new dialing system, according to which all domestic telephone numbers have 10 digits, has been put into effect. These changes help in increasing available connection numbers which are not enough at this point to 100 million. This way, there will be numbers for any new companies to be created.

At the same time, there will be better management of available telephone numbers, since from the very first digit, one will know which telephone category they are calling, or which they should call and how much they will be charged. However the procedure for calling abroad will remain the same (00).

Thus, from today, all calls made local or long distance will have to include the area code and an extra zero after that code (i.e. Athens 01-0-number normally dialed, Thessaloniki 031-0-number normally dialed).

[02] GREECE-US AHEAD IN TOURISM

Greece, Spain, Italy, France and the US are the top five holiday destinations for European tourists, according to a survey performed by IPK International, on 1 million people in over 50 countries worldwide, after the September 11 terrorist attack.

The scale has leaned in the favor of Greece. The research showed that destinations with sea and sun will be the champions for the next three years. 35% of couples travel to such locations and these are also the targets of investment organizations for the next few years.

At the same time, investors seem to be turning to inexpensive hotels within the city, since they foresee an increase in demand for this sort of lodgings.

This tendency is confirmed by the evidence of IPK International's survey published in the Sunday Vima which established that 25% of tourists select city breaks. According to the survey, there will be a rise in European tourism of 2% in 2002, although the first two quarters are expected to be slow. In the 3rd quarter (summer), the rise will be about 4% with a peak in the last quarter of 10% in relation to 2001.

[03] TURKISH TRAFFICKERS ARRESTED

Three Turkish traffickers are to be taken to the District Attorney, after being arrested on Friday, for the trafficking of 130 illegal immigrants through the sea region southeast of St. Efstratios on the Hakki Baba 1 fishing boat, sailing under a Turkish flag.

They are Uygun Coskiun, 41 (captain), Kartal Syreya, 36, and Ozmet Asiz, 38.

The 130 illegal immigrants are staying at an encampment which will be built by the local government of Limnos.

[04] REACTIONS TO ALPHA BANK - ETE "DIVORCE"

New Democracy spokesperson Thodoris Roussopoulos accused the government of irresponsibility and the administration of Ethniki Bank of bad management, when commenting on the Ethniki Alpha bank "divorce", and asked for the resignation of the Ethniki Bank Director, Theodoros Karatzas.

From the very first moment that the merger between Alpha Bank and Ethinki was announced, New Democracy, seriously and responsibly, pointed out the important difficulties and dangers it foresaw in the course towards the completion of the undertaking.

We had then expressed the serious questionings we had about the success of the enterprise, which, as was eventually proven, was terribly managed, even though the privatization of Ethniki Bank was such an important issue, stressed Mr. Roussopoulos.

Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos, stated that mergers are a necessary procedure, and added that restructuring is needed at all levels.

Earlier, in his speech at the PASOK Central Committee, Akis Tsohatzopoulos had supported that the merger experiment did not go any further, because the way in which society would support the structural changes had not been researched.

The problems and difficulties must not in the least slow down or affect the development of structural changes, privatizations, the empowering of Greek businesses in the banking sector, as in all other sectors of financial activity, stressed the Minister of Economy and Finances, Nikos Christodoulakis.

The final collapse of an agreement, which was announced in a hurry and without being properly planned as a great government and national success, is causing many negative financial and political side effects, pointed out the press office of the Coalition of the Left in an announcement it made.

"The political responsibilities of the government, and especially the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Economy, are enormous, and it is impossible for them to cover up by distancing themselves from what happened, seeking alibis and scapegoats, after the fact, stressed the announcement form the Coalition.

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