Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-09-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] SIMITIS:CONVERGENCE, A NATIONAL GOAL

[02] DIALOGUE OR STRIKE OVER THE PUMPS

[03] GIOTOPOULOS NATURAL LEADER OF 17N

[04] PAPANDREOU IN CYPRUS

[05] KAKLAMANIS MET WITH THE CHIEF MINISTER OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF

[06] PROTOPAPAS: THE VISIT OF MR. PAPANDREOU TO CYPRUS IS IMPORTANT

[07] THESSALONIKIS 68TH ITF ATTRACTS TRADE VISITORS FROM THE BALKANS

[08] DRAFT MEMORANDUM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GREEK-BRAZILIAN BUSINESS

[09] GROWTH RATE OF 4.4% FOR THE GREEK ECONOMY

[10] LOSSES AGAIN IN THE ASE

[11] THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IS OPTIMISTIC ON THE REOPENING OF THE THEOLOGY

[12] KARAMANLIS-PRODI MEETING

[13] KARAMANLIS ROOM IN EUROPARLIAMENT

[01] SIMITIS:CONVERGENCE, A NATIONAL GOAL

Greece's convergence with other European countries is a national goal, stated Prime Minister Costas Simitis, immediately following his meeting with President of the Republic Costis Stefanopoulos at the Presidential residence, and noted that convergence is the main issue.

He appealed to all sides to make an effort to achieve that goal, and made it clear that convergence will not be easy to achieve. A prerequisite for convergence is economic stability and the means is growth.

The Cabinet will meet tomorrow and immediately afterwards the Prime Minister will present the guidelines of the "Charta for economic and social convergence". As Mr. Simitis said, the basic budget outline for 2004 has been drafted.

During the discussion between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic prior to the departure of the press, Mr. Simitis said that his visit to the Thessaloniki International Fair went very well and characterized September as the month of economy.

[02] DIALOGUE OR STRIKE OVER THE PUMPS

All hopes to avoid a strike by petrol station owners

have been placed in their meeting today with Minister

of Development Akis Tsochatzopoulos. The owners

threatened they would begin a long strike tomorrow, if

the government insists on the installation of cash

registers connected to the gas pumps. The Ministry of

Finance supported that this way fuel smuggling, which

has been characterized as major, can be thwarted. The

hope that petrol station owners come to the dialogue

with the relevant bodies was expressed by Government

Spokesperson Christos Protopapas, who pointed out that

this dialogue aims at protecting public interest and

avoiding problems that could harm the everyday life of

the citizens.

[03] GIOTOPOULOS NATURAL LEADER OF 17N

District Attorney Christos Lambrou was a catapult for

alleged leader of 17N Alexandros Giotopoulos, with the

opening of his statement today, at the trial of the 19

suspect members of the "17 November" terrorist

organizations. First of all, Mr. Lambrou pointed out that the court is trying crimes and criminals, not ideologies. Subsequently, the DA referred to the role of Alexandros Giotopoulos, for more than an hour; Giotopoulos is facing 963 charges. As the DA said, in 1974, when Greece was a wreck after the misadventures with the dictatorship, a "mysterious dark man was returning with no identity or last name, in order to stand in the way of democracy". "This was Alexandros Giotopoulos or Michalis Economou or Lambros, with his Parisian culture. He manipulated young people, started taking advantage of them, and used them for his own goals. With threats of "firing" them, he kept the this

criminal organization's activity going for 27 years".

Lambrou also compared Giotopoulos to an ostrich, sticking its head in the sand thinking no one can see it. "Alexandros Giotopoulos is neck deep in the criminal activity of 17N", he supported characteristically. In reference to Mr. Giotopolos, the DA said he was a man who was a failure professionally, a shirker of work and with no job, who came to Greece to obstruct democracy. Regarding the rest of the defendants, he characterized them as pseudo-revolutionaries, killers, robbers and cowards. Meanwhile, shortly before the beginning of the trial, Savvas Xeros stated that Greece's justice system will have collapsed by the end of the trial.

[04] PAPANDREOU IN CYPRUS

A formal visit to Cyprus will be carried out tomorrow

and the day after by Foreign Minister Giorgos

Papandroeu. Mr. Papandreou will speak at an event by

Greek and Turkish Cypriot professors at the Ledra

Palace Hotel, on the future of education in Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot parties turned down Mr. Papandreou's

invitation. "We thought these meetings absolutely

normal and logical, but of course it is up to the

options and the availability of the Turkish Cypriot

leaders to accept or reject this invitations", stated

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Panos Beglitis.

[05] KAKLAMANIS MET WITH THE CHIEF MINISTER OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

Greek Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis met in Athens today with Australias Northern Territory Chief Minister Mrs. Clare Martin.

Mr. Kaklamanis stated that Greece always honors the Australians and the New Zealanders, who fought in Greece for freedom and humanitarian ideals and offered their lives to Crete and other Greek islands in the fight against Nazism and Fascism.

In the talks that were held in a very friendly atmosphere, participated Greek-Australian senior government officials and focused on the education problems of the Greeks in Australia.

[06] PROTOPAPAS: THE VISIT OF MR. PAPANDREOU TO CYPRUS IS IMPORTANT

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas did not comment on the refusal of the Turkish Cypriot side political party leaders to meet with Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou, who will be in Cyprus tomorrow. Mr. Protopapas pointed out that Mr. Papandreou, very correctly, made this gesture but he refused to make further comments due to the very sensitive period (elections in the Turkish occupied territories in northern Cyprus).

The government spokesman stated that the visit of Mr. Papandreou is very important because it will prepare the meeting of the Prime Minister with the President of the Cypriot Republic.

[07] THESSALONIKIS 68TH ITF ATTRACTS TRADE VISITORS FROM THE BALKANS

Thessalonikis 68th International Trade Fair attracts large numbers of trade visitors from Greece and the Balkans again this year, a fact that confirms its role as one of the most important events of economic interest both for Greece itself and the wider region.

Yesterday, third day of operation for the 68th ITF were launched, confirmed or settled cooperation deals between Greek businesses and trade visitors from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, FYROM, Qatar and Chile.

[08] DRAFT MEMORANDUM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GREEK-BRAZILIAN BUSINESS COUNCIL

Greece and Brazil appear determined to open the trade channels to increase the flow of exports and imports between them which is very limited today.

In the first half of 2003, the Greek exports to Brazil were at US.39 million (corresponding to just 0.04% of the overall Brazilian imports). In the same period, the value of Brazilian-label products that entered the Greek market was at US.127 million recording an increase of 29.34% compared to last year.

The figures mentioned above were presented in Thessaloniki today, on the occasion of the first formal visit of Brazilian businessmen to Greece and also, within the framework of a bilateral economic forum organized by the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Thessaloniki.

On the occasion of the forum, Hellenic Foreign Trade Board (HEPO) managing director Dimitris Mardas delivered a draft memorandum to the Brazilian delegation proposing the establishment of a bilateral Greek-Brazilian business council. The memorandum provides that the business council will have two legs, one in Greece and one in Brazil, and it will operate under the umbrella of HEPO and a Brazilian organization that will be selected for this purpose.

[09] GROWTH RATE OF 4.4% FOR THE GREEK ECONOMY

A marginal drop of 0.1% was recorded in the GDP of the Euro-zone member states in the second trimester of 2003, based on the preliminary report issued by the European Statistics Agency, Eurostat. On an annual basis, growth was limited to 0.2% in the Euro-zone and at 0.5% in all EU member states.

At an annual basis, the highest growth rate recorded in the second trimester of 2003 was in Greece with 4.4%, followed by Spain (2.3%) and Belgium and Finland (0.8%).

[10] LOSSES AGAIN IN THE ASE

Considerable losses were recorded again today in the Athens Stock Exchange. The general index dropped to -1.39% at 2.062,72 points, while the volume of transactions was high at 154.7 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 279 recorded losses and 48 had gains, while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.

[11] THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IS OPTIMISTIC ON THE REOPENING OF THE THEOLOGY SCHOOL OF HALKI

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew appeared optimistic regarding the reopening of the Theology School of Halki, in an interview with television channel CNNTurk.

He made clarifications regarding the meaning of the term Ecumenical when referring to the Patriachate at the Fanar in Istanbul, on which the criticism launched by the conservative nationalists is focused. He pointed out that it is a religious institute and its nature is not political but purely religious, stressing that the Patriarchate does not want to become another Vatican.

He stressed that all the Orthodox Christian Churches around the world, and all formal authorities, accept this Ecumenical character and at this point, he mentioned the invitation he received from Libya, stressing that this title was used on the specific invitation as well. The Ecumenical Patriarch will visit Libya on Wednesday as a formal guest.

He said that he will visit Libya for the purpose of religious dialogue, as he did in many other trips as well, pointing out that dialogue between people is necessary regardless of their religion. He also underlined that dialogue helps in the elimination of fanaticism and animosity.

Responding to a relevant question, he said that the Patriarchate did not ask for the reopening of Saint Sophia in Istanbul as a church but it was opposed to its use as a place hosting cultural events.

Also, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the meetings he had in August with Turkish Foreign Minister Gul, Interior Minister Aksu and lately, with Prime Minister Erdogan. He said that he mentioned to them the problems faced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek community and he was met with understanding, while he received the promise that efforts will be made for the solution of the problems within the framework of the existing laws.

[12] KARAMANLIS-PRODI MEETING

The future of Europe was discussed in the meeting right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis had in Brussels today with European Commission President Romano Prodi.

Mr. Karamanlis stressed that the plan on the European Constitution is a big step forward, pointing out, however, that there is still a lot left to be done. He also backed the safeguarding of the rights of the small and medium size countries.

Mr. Karamanlis gave a special emphasis on the promotion of the Joint Foreign Policy and the Policy on Security and Defense as well as the developments concerning farm products. At that point, he accused the Greek government of neglect and called on it to safeguard the interests of the Greek farmers.

[13] KARAMANLIS ROOM IN EUROPARLIAMENT

The European Parliament honored Constantinos

Karamanlis for his dedication to the European idea and

his contribution to the efforts for a European

unification, by giving his name to a facility in a

mansion in the Belgian capital. Present at the

ceremony were ND President Constantinos Karamanlis and

historic ND members, Foreign Minister Giorgos

Papandreou, Presidents of the Parliament Apostolos

Kaklamanis, of the European Parliament Pat Cox, and of

the EPP Wilfried Martens. Every leader is finally

judged by his ability to set and conquer a vision,

said Mr. Karamanlis.

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