Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-06-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING IN ISTANBUL

[02] THESSALONIKI-SKOPJE OIL PIPELINE FUNCTIONING

[03] 23,000 VOLUNTEERS FOR THE OLYMPICS

[04] DRASTIC SPENDING CUTS BY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

[05] PROTOPAPAS ON MILOSEVIC'S BANK ACCOUNTS

[06] PROTOPAPAS: GREECE IS NOT A COUNTRY OF OPEN BORDERS

[07] SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN THE ASE

[08] CHRISOCHOIDIS: GREECE HAS NO ROOM FOR MORE IMMIGRANTS

[09] PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING

[10] THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION ORGANIZATION MEETING

[11] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IS IN KAZAKHSTAN

[01] PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING IN ISTANBUL

Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou is meeting with Turkish counterpart, Ismail Cem, in Istanbul today.

At the meeting, an exploration of Turkey's intentions on the Euroarmy issue will initially take place, as well as a broader analysis of Greek-Turkish relations, after Ankara's refusal to agree with the text of the 15 in Seville.

At the same time today in Istanbul, the 4th round of exploratory contacts between Greece and Turkey will take place, with the meeting of the Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry, A. Skopelitis, and the Secretary General of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Ugur Ziyal.

[02] THESSALONIKI-SKOPJE OIL PIPELINE FUNCTIONING

The Thessaloniki-Skopje oil pipeline started functioning on Sunday, as announced by the OKTA Skopje oil refinery, which has been bought by Greek Petroleums(ELPE).

According to the MIA Skopje news agency, the first quantities of petrol were conveyed from the Thessaloniki harbor last night and are expected to arrive at the FYROM refinery on Wednesday.

The official inauguration of the pipeline will take place on June 2, at the same time in Skopje and Thessaloniki, at the ELPE industrial complex, with FYROM Prime Minister Ljupco Georgiefski and Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos present.

The inauguration ceremony will commence at 19:30, with the President of the ELPE group, Giorgos Moraitis, present. The pipeline, an investment of approximately $100 million, will connect the OKTA refineries, now property of ELPE, with Thessaloniki.

In the meanwhile, according to information, the creation of two more pipelines for the transfer of petroleum products is being studied. The first pipeline, 50-60 km long, will connect OKTA to Kossovo and the second with Southeastern Serbia (15 km long to the border).

The implicated governments have already accepted the proposals for the creation of the pipelines, and now funds are being searched for from community programmes. The ELPE is even exploring the possibility of incorporating the investment in the Greek Plan for Balkan Reconstruction (ESOAB).

In any case, only the preliminary studies are ready at present, while the final drafts are expected to be submitted in a few months. The construction of the pipelines will be completed in about a year, from the moment the investment is incorporated into a funding programme.

[03] 23,000 VOLUNTEERS FOR THE OLYMPICS

Twenty three thousand applications of people who want to offer their services in a non-profit way to help organize the 2004 Olympic Games and to contribute to their success, have been submitted to the Organizing Committee two years before the opening of the Games.

Many of the volunteers are foreigners, while there is a noteworthy number of volunteers from the country.

[04] DRASTIC SPENDING CUTS BY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Decisions for drastic non social nature spending cuts and intensification of tax controls to speed up the revenues increase rates were taken by the government's economic staff.

In a meeting held today to draw up the 2003 budget, Minister of Finance Nikos Christodoulakis gave the green light to responsible undersecretary Giorgos Floridis to proceed directly to non social nature spending cuts of 450 million Euro. The decision was made after it was established that there was overspending in the first half of 2002.

The 2003 budget draft plan is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the first ten days of October.

[05] PROTOPAPAS ON MILOSEVIC'S BANK ACCOUNTS

The Greek government and the banking authorities which are under its control did the best they could to assist in the efforts of the international community and the International Court of Justice on the issue of Slobodan Milosevic's bank accounts.

The above were stated by Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas responding to a relevant question by reporters.

[06] PROTOPAPAS: GREECE IS NOT A COUNTRY OF OPEN BORDERS

Greece is not a country of open borders, stated government spokesman Christos Protopapas and added that Athens wants the agreements aimed at averting illegal immigration to be observed because the inflow of illegal immigrants cannot continue.

Referring to the big wave of illegal immigration recorded lately, Mr. Protopapas spoke of a massive inflow of illegal immigrants and accused Turkey of non cooperation. Specifically, the Greek government spokesman stated that certain ones have undertaken to direct the illegal immigration wave from Evros, northeastern Greece and called on Turkey to observe its contractual obligations provided by the bilateral agreement it has signed with Greece.

He also stated that the illegal immigration issue will be discussed in the governmental committee meeting on Thursday.

[07] SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN THE ASE

Significant gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +2.02% at 2.242,88 points, while the volume of transactions was at 149 million Euro or 50.7 billion drachmas.

Of the stocks trading today, 202 recorded gains and 104 had losses, while the value of 67 stocks remained unchanged.

[08] CHRISOCHOIDIS: GREECE HAS NO ROOM FOR MORE IMMIGRANTS

Greece cannot absorb more economic immigrants. There is no room for more, stated Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrisochoidis in an interview with the Athens newspaper TA NEA.

The Public Order Minister said that what's important today is the harmonic accession of the 700.000 or so legal economic immigrants into the Greek society. If we leave things uncontrolled and continue to accept waves of economic immigrants our society will not be able to absorb them and the result will be negative both for the Greeks and the immigrants themselves, said Mr. Chrisochoidis.

Mr. Chrisochoidis criticized Turkey for not keeping its contractual obligations. Namely, Turkey is accused of not returning to their countries the illegal immigrants who enter Greece from its territory and added that the Greek side has warn Ankara that it is determined to make all necessary moves in the European Union in order to persuade it to observe its obligations.

[09] PAPANDREOU-CEM MEETING

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou met in Istanbul today with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem and discussed issues concerning the Euro-army, Cyprus, Turkey's European course, illegal immigration and other bilateral issues. The meeting lasted an hour and ten minutes and was characterized by the two politicians as fruitful.

On the issue of the Euro-army, Mr. Papandreou stated that when Greece takes over the presidency on issues of Foreign Policy and Defense it will proceed based on the specific positions formed in the EU in case the issue is not resolved by the Spanish EU presidency.

Mr. Cem maintained that there is no European position yet and that Mr. Papandreou referred to everything he regards as important on the issue, adding that both agreed to work in a constructive way for a solution to be found.

The two foreign ministers also dealt with the problem of illegal immigration. Mr. Papandreou stated that after a relevant agreement is signed and ratified in Parliament, a joint committee must be formed to determine additional ways to face illegal immigration.

[10] THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION ORGANIZATION MEETING

The 10th annual meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, BSEC, state and government leaders opened in Istanbul today.

In the meeting participate the presidents of Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldavia, Romania, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan as well as the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Albania, Armenia and Russia.

In his opening speech, Turkish President Ahmet Nezdet Sezer pointed out that the organization produces 1/5 of the world trade and referred to the strengthening of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank businesses. He also stressed that BSEC has emerged from a regional economic initiative to an international economic organization.

[11] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS IS IN KAZAKHSTAN

President Kostis Stephanopoulos is on a three-day formal visit to Kazakhstan today accompanied by Undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs Andreas Loverdos and Yiannis Magriotis. Mr. Stephanopoulos is expected to promote issues of bilateral cooperation in the sectors of economy and trade.

The Greek President will meet with representatives of the Greek community in the country in the presence of World Council of Hellenes Abroad, SAE, Deputy President Stefanos Tabakis.

Tomorrow, he will meet with his Kazakh counterpart and they will sign bilateral agreements. Later at noon, Mr. Stephanopoulos will open the proceedings of a business forum that will be held with the participation of Greek businessmen.

On Thursday, the last day of the visit, Mr. Stephanopoulos will meet with the Kazakh Prime Minister and will inaugurate a photo exhibition dedicated to the Olympic Games.

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