Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-11-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] GREECE CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN KOSOVO

[02] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE TURKISH VIOLATIONS

[03] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PROTECTION OF VULTURES

[04] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE ECONOMY

[05] BALKAN CONFERENCE ON ALTERED PRODUCTS

[06] PRESIDENT PAPOULIAS MET WITH HIS ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

[07] KARAMANLIS IN JAPAN

[08] THE EU DECISION ON FYROM IS POSITIVE

[01] GREECE CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN KOSOVO

Greece can play an important role in the developments in Kosovo because of the historic relations and trade and investment ties it shares with the region's countries, stated US Undersecretary of State responsible for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns responding to a question by US Senator Paul Sarbanes in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, while he stressed that it will be good if the Contact Group continues its contacts with the SE European Cooperation Process (SEECP) countries indirectly satisfying this way Athens' wish to have a voice in the developments that will get underway.

Mr. Burns denied that among the possible solutions is the creation of a Great Albania or the partition of the region.

The only feasible solution on Kosovo is independence that will be firmly accompanied by the condition concerning the total respect of the Serb minority rights and the presence of the NATO military force in which the US should participate, stated former UN ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton administrations Richard Holbrooke addressing the committee.

[02] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE TURKISH VIOLATIONS

Such behaviors are not consistent with the creation of a better climate we would like to exist in bilateral relations, stated government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos.

He made the statement responding to a question by a reporter on yesterday's violations of the Greek national airspace made by Turkish aircraft.

[03] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PROTECTION OF VULTURES

An international scientific conference on the protection and management of the vulture populations will be co-organized in Thessaloniki on November 14-16 by WWF Hellas and the Crete University Museum of Natural History followed by a two-day trip to the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park.

The goal of the conference is to record and assess the work done until today with regard to the protection of vultures in Europe.

Sixteen internationally acclaimed scientists from Europe and elsewhere have been invited to the conference and will make specific presentations on issues concerning the scientific observation and management of vulture populations.

Europe is the home for four vulture species, Mavrogipas, Ornio, Asproparis and Gipaetos. All of them are protected species, characterized as endangered, and are being met in Greece.

The extinction of vultures is the result of many factors related with the destruction of their habitats, the lack of food and destructive human interventions such as the use of poison traps.

[04] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE ECONOMY

The effort made to deal with the big deficits has an expiration date at the end of 2006. Deficit was 6.6% of the GDP in 2004, and 3.6% in 2005 while as a result of the policy currently followed it will be 2.6% in 2006. It is a policy of overall adjustment which will result to a deficit drop of 4 percentage points, an estimated 3.5 of which are attributed to structural changes of a permanent nature.

Government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos gave the response answering to a question by a reporter on the duration of the Commission's supervision and specifically, on the likelihood to be extended beyond 2006.

[05] BALKAN CONFERENCE ON ALTERED PRODUCTS

A Balkan conference on the genetically altered organisms will take place in Thessaloniki's Aristotle University Polytechnic School amphitheatre on November 25-27 with the participation of representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia-Montenegro, FYROM, Cyprus and other countries.

The conference is an initiative by European networks and world organizations and will take place with the support of the Greek National Union of Prefectural Local Authorities (ENAE), Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE), the Hellenic Federation of Bank Employees Unions (OTOE), the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) and many other organizations.

Michalis Tremopoulos, head of the Thessaloniki prefectural movement Ecology-Solidarity, Coalition of Citizens, explained in a press conference today that one of the goals of the conference is to highlight and deal with the legislative weaknesses concerning inspection on the trade and use of genetically mutated products.

He said that the country with the most serious problem in the Balkan region is Romania which has even allowed the cultivation of mutated seeds while on the contrary Serbia-Montenegro has developed a satisfactory control system. Movements are being formed in the past five years in Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovenia and Turkey.

According to Grigoris Nikolaidis, president of the Macedonia-Thrace association of agriculturalists, almost half of the imported animal feed contain mutated soya and until today the scientific community has reached no conclusion on the possible effects.

The representatives of the movements and agencies call for signs on products with mutated ingredients to warn consumers.

[06] PRESIDENT PAPOULIAS MET WITH HIS ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

Hellenic Republic President Karolos Papoulias and his wife received today Armenian President Robert Kocharian who is on a formal visit to Greece accompanied by his wife.

The formal reception ceremony attended 2nd Vice-President of the Greek Parliament Mr. Sourlas, Minister of Tourist Development Mr. Avramopoulos, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Valinakis, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy Mr. Folias, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Kontos and the leadership of the Armed Forces and Security Forces.

The two Presidents had a meeting in private and exchanged gifts.

Later in the evening, President Papoulias and his wife will give a formal dinner in honor of the Armenian President and his wife.

[07] KARAMANLIS IN JAPAN

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has departed for a four-day formal visit to Japan. Mr. Karamanlis is accompanied by his wife and will be received by Japan's Imperial Couple while he will also meet with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi and Japanese Parliament President Yohei Kono. He will also attend a working lunch given in his honor by the Japanese Industrialists' Confederation (KEINDAREN).

Mr. Koizumi will also give a formal dinner in honor of Mr. Karamanlis, while Prime Minister Karamanlis is scheduled to give interviews to Japanese mass media.

[08] THE EU DECISION ON FYROM IS POSITIVE

The European Commission report on FYROM to be made public later today will be positive offering to the country an EU candidate state status.

The European Commission wishes that the dispute regarding the FYROM name will be settled and makes it clear that in case it is not solved the country will be accepted under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

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