Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-12-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[02] THE NEWS AGENCIES OPEN NEW PATHS OF COOPERATION IN THE BALKANS

[03] NEW DEMOCRACY IS LEADING

[04] MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER

[05] TALKS ON THE FYROM NAME IN THE UN

[01] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.25% at 2663.52 points, while the volume of transactions was small at 134,4 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 118 had gains and 161 had losses, while the value of 141 stocks remained unchanged.

[02] THE NEWS AGENCIES OPEN NEW PATHS OF COOPERATION IN THE BALKANS

The annual General Assembly meeting of the Association of Balkan News Agencies, ABNA, was completed in Thessaloniki and Western Macedonia, northern Greece, with the adoption of two important decisions.

The general directors of the southeastern European news agencies adopted the proposal for the creation of a joint Internet portal by ABNA to promote the profile of the national news agencies, as well as news items and photographic material to help the peoples in the region to know each other better and erase suspicion, hatred, passions and nationalist fanaticism that have caused many disasters in the Balkans in the past.

Also, the ABNA members decided to institute four annual prizes to be awarded to journalists and photojournalists in the region who promote inter-Balkan cooperation and the course of the Balkan states to European integration. The terms for the prizes will be decided by a three-member committee made up of the general directors of the Bulgarian news agency BTA, the Turkish ANADOLU and Greece's MPA.

The general assembly elected unanimously MPA general director Spiros Kouzinopoulos to the post of ABNA general secretary, while SRNA (Bosnia-Herzegovina) general director Milos Solaja will hold the ABNA presidency during 2005.

In the final resolution issued after the general assembly proceedings it is stressed that ABNA in the 10 years since its establishment (June 1994) has contributed in a meaningful way to the joint effort to fulfill the desires and hopes of the peoples in the region creating the preconditions for lasting peaceful cohabitation, good neighborly relations, economic reconstruction and a common course to the European prospect.

[03] NEW DEMOCRACY IS LEADING

The governing party of New Democracy is leading main opposition Socialist Party of PASOK by 6.7 percentage points, according to an opinion poll by the polling company GPO published yesterday on the newspaper Tipos tis Kiriakis.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is regarded most fit for the post of the Prime Minister (53.1%) followed by Giorgos Papandreou (31.7%), while 39.8% of those asked would vote for New Democracy, PASOK 33.1%, the Communist Party 6.1%, Coalition 3.2%, LAOS 2.8%, other 1.5%.

A total of 54% believes that if elections are held at the end of the four-year term, and based on the impressions they have so far, the winner will be the party of New Democracy.

Positive or rather positive impression of the government has 42.6%, while negative or rather negative impression of the opposition has 43.5%.

The telephone opinion poll was held in the period of November 30-December 2 on a sample of 2,000 people.

[04] MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER

Combating corruption and greater transparency are the main goals of the draft law on the majority shareholder to be presented at noon today by Minister of State Thodoris Rousopoulos.

Earlier, the Governmental Committee will meet under Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis for the final approval.

According to information, the draft law will provide, among others, that the percentage of the majority shareholder will be cut from 5% to 1%

[05] TALKS ON THE FYROM NAME IN THE UN

The permanent representatives of Greece and FYROM in the United Nations meet today at the UN headquarters in New York with UN Secretary General special envoy Mathew Nimitz to continue the dialogue aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the FYROM name.

For the record, the interim agreement procedure is in effect and the talks are held under the auspices of the United Nations.

According to information, the United States want the issue to be resolved by the EU Summit meeting on December 17.

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