Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-06-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] GLOBAL PROBLEMS REQUIRE UNDERSTANDING

[02] THE KEY OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION

[03] MARKET "JURY" OUT ON MERGER

[04] BALKANS TO THE EU VIA THESSALONIKI

[05] F-16 CRASHED IN AGHIALOS - PILOT SAFE

[06] ONLY TWO PEOPLE KNEW OF OCALAN'S DESTINATION

[07] COALITION CHANGES ITS NAME

[08] THE COST OF GROWTH

[01] GLOBAL PROBLEMS REQUIRE UNDERSTANDING

All global problems require understanding, pointed out the President of the European Union and Prime Minister of Greece Costas Simitis, in Evian, France, in the margin of the G8 Meeting, and that, he stressed, is the outcome of his contacts with foreign leaders in St. Petersburg and the discussions in Evian.

Every step for understanding is positive and on that side so is the G8 Meeting with its enlarged composition, he said. Despite the fact that the Iraqi crisis has been overcome and oil prices have dropped radically, exiting the recession is still the primary priority globally, and the appreciation is that there will be improvements in the second half of 2003. At that point Mr. Simitis underlined that leaving the economic recession behind is not just a US, EU and Japanese affair, but that other countries must also join and contribute to the game.

An announcement was made at the Meeting that the US will offer billion and the EU will offer 1 billion euro to battle AIDS.

Help towards underdeveloped or developing countries also occupied the Meeting, and the President of Brazil proposed taxes on armaments.

Mr. Simitis said that special attention must be paid to the sector of education, in addition to the backing provided for infrastructure.

In response to a journalist question, he stressed that the G8 Meeting is not attempting to bridge the gap that was created between the EU and the US, due to the military attack on Iraq.

President of the European Commission Romano Prodi and President of the European Union Costas Simitis held a joint press conference in Evian.

Specifically on the EU-US relations' problem, the Prime Minister stated that although some newspapers wrote that Europeans and Americans were going to bury the hatchet at this meeting, he considered this a very narrow definition. First of all there are not just Europeans here. There are Japanese, the President of China was here today. At this point I would like to say that I had discussions with the President of Brazil Mr. Lula, the President of Egypt, Mr. Mubarak, on the Palestinian issue, as well as with the UN Secretary General, Mr. Annan, on the Cyprus issue. So this is a venue for broader discussions, stated the President of the European Union.

In reference to a question on the breach in EU-US relations due to the Iraq crisis, the Greek Prime Minister commented: If we want to be honest, the breach you speak of, arises in relation to varying understandings of NATO's role, regarding interatlantic relations, regarding the policing or not of the EU, and cannot be overcome by such a meeting, if there is one. But such meetings assist in toning down tensions.

In response to a question on whether the positions of Mr. Bush and Mr. Chirac would send an optimistic message for economy, Mr. Simitis stated: First of all, since I had a discussion with Mr. Bush in St. Petersburg, and I was present in discussions Mr. Bush had with other leaders, I witnessed no atmosphere of enmity or hostility. It was a very friendly atmosphere, as Mr. Prodi just mentioned. Now, as far as global economy is concerned, all appreciations point at the second half of 2003 recording an improvement.

[02] THE KEY OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION

The countries of the Black Sea are moving at a constantly accelerating pace towards the free market economy, promoting immediate reforms on various fronts, in order to come into harmony with international requirements and in order to procure the ticket for their accession to the global economic system.

Although there is still a long way to go for the goals to be achieved, the development of economic indexes per state confirms that essential progress has already been made, as was made clear at the 4th Black Sea Business Day in Thessaloniki.

Characteristic examples of the progress made in the economy of the region's states are Bulgaria and Russia, as arose from the speeches of Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Vasilev and Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Ivan Materof.

During the meeting, the Greek Minister of Development, Akis Tsochatzopoulos stressed that regional integration is a necessary intermediate stage for the steady accession of the region's countries to the global economic environment. The political will for cooperation, aiming at regional economic integration, must be a main priority.

During his greeting at the meeting, the works of which will continue until this evening, the Minister also pointed out that the promotion of connections of the region's states with inter-European transportation and energy networks must be yet another priority.

Today, the region is behind in competitiveness and growth, underlined Mr. Tsochatzopoulos, and added that in order to achieve progress, special attention must be paid to the enlargement of inter-state cooperation, the development of alliances between the public and private sector, and national policies for the promotion of -competitiveness and the reinforcement of small and medium businesses.

[03] MARKET "JURY" OUT ON MERGER

ELPE (Greek Petroleum) and PETROLA are waiting to see the market's reactions in the stock market today, in order to see how they will correspond to the very optimistic atmosphere created with the merger of the two companies, which have created a power colossus. Minister of Development Akis Tsochatzopoulos expressed his certainty that the merger will strengthen competition. ND is questioning the privatization ELPE, as a result of the merger, the Coalition and DIKKI mention that the few have been benefited.

[04] BALKANS TO THE EU VIA THESSALONIKI

A preparatory meeting for the EU West Balkan Summit to be held after the Thessaloniki Summit, will be held today by the Presidency in Ochrid, with the participation of Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou. Participants include the Presidents of FYROM, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Croatia, all countries that want EU accession, but only Croatia has submitted the application.

[05] F-16 CRASHED IN AGHIALOS - PILOT SAFE

Flight lieutenant Theodoros Pliatsikas of the Greek Air Force managed to eject from his aircraft this afternoon and is not injured. His aircraft crashed on the island of Aghialos, in the non-populated area of Dimitriada near the airport, due to a bird getting sucked into the aircraft's engine.

[06] ONLY TWO PEOPLE KNEW OF OCALAN'S DESTINATION

Only Ocalan himself and Cypriot businessman Ar. Aristidou knew that the leader of the Kurdish PKK was going from Athens to Kenya, testified former officer of the Greek Intelligence Service Savvas Kalenteridis, at the trial on Abdullah Ocalan's illegal entrance to Greece, which continued this morning in Athens.

Kalenteridis stated that Ocalan's arrest was damaging to Greece, both in the short and in the long run, however he added that Commander Naxakis, who coordinated the entrance operation did not intend to harm Greece.

[07] COALITION CHANGES ITS NAME

A change in the name of the Coalition of the Left and Progress was decided yesterday afternoon, the last day of the party's Programming Conference. The party's name will be changed to the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology. The votes were 305 in favor of this change, 232 in favor of Coalition of the Left, 9 blank and 3 abstentions.

[08] THE COST OF GROWTH

The positions of the EU concerning north-south relations, i.e. those between rich and poorer countries, was expressed by Prime Minister Costas Simitis in his function as President of the Union, at the G-8 Summit being held in Evian, France. The insitution of a special fee for the environment, which will come from arms sales, was proposed by President Lula of Brazil. US President George Bush, after a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, has departed for Jordan, where the Israeli-Palestinian meeting will be held. Extreme security measures in Evian, as thousands of people have gathered from France and Switzerland to protest globalization.

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