Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 06-03-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] NEW DEMOCRACY SEES POSITIVE MESSAGES

[02] TWO KILLED IN A PRIVATE CAR / TRAIN COLLISION

[03] PRESIDENT PAPOULIAS TO OPEN SARAKATSANI CONFERENCE

[04] EUROBANK EFG BECOMES THE FULL OWNER OF NACIONALNA STEDIONICA BANKA

[05] GREEK-RUSSIAN MEETING ON THE BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS OIL PIPELINE

[06] STYLIANIDIS MET WITH A KUWAITI DELEGATION

[07] NEW OPINION POLL BY METRON ANALYSIS

[08] UNEASE IN SOUTH EVROS

[01] NEW DEMOCRACY SEES POSITIVE MESSAGES

Ruling party New Democracy Central Committee secretary Lefteris Zagoritis characterized as positive the messages sent by the young people from the country's regions after the meeting he had with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis with whom they discussed local administration issues.

Earlier, Mr. Karamanlis had met with Agricultural Bank President Mr. Miliakos who stated afterwards that the Agricultural Bank is a bank with a great future ahead.

[02] TWO KILLED IN A PRIVATE CAR / TRAIN COLLISION

Two people were killed this afternoon at a Hellenic Railways Organization, OSE, level crossing in the region of Edessa, northern Greece. The OSE passenger train involved in the accident was in no way responsible for it.

The accident happened a little before 5 in the afternoon at the second level crossing after Skydra when a private car attempted to cross the railroad tracks in spite of the fact that the railway level crossing barriers had been lowered and audio-visual warning signs were in operation.

The OSE 750 train from Edessa to Thessaloniki with 35 passengers on board collided with the private car killing its two passengers. No injuries were recorded among the train passengers.

[03] PRESIDENT PAPOULIAS TO OPEN SARAKATSANI CONFERENCE

Hellenic Republic President Karolos Papoulias will be in Thessaloniki tomorrow to open the proceedings of the 2nd Conference of Sarakatsani of Greece and the Diaspora to take place in the N. Germanos Conference Center.

Mr. Papoulias is expected to arrive at Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport at 10:15am and at 11am he will be at the conference center. A luncheon will be given in his honor after the opening of the conference and later in the afternoon, he will depart for Athens.

[04] EUROBANK EFG BECOMES THE FULL OWNER OF NACIONALNA STEDIONICA BANKA

Eurobank EFG group announced that it has become 100% share owner of the Serb Nacionalna Stedionica Banka after signing an agreement with the Serbian government.

Serb Republic Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic and Chief Executive Office of Athens-based Eurobank EFG Nicholas Nanopoulos signed an agreement in Belgrade today according to which Eurobank EFG acquired the rest 37.7% of Nacionalna Stedionica Banka. In September 2005, Eurobank EFG had acquired a 52.5% stake in NSB.

The signing of today's agreement that transfers the shareholding and control of NSB to Eurobank EFG group paves the way for the merger of NSB with EFG Eurobank A.D. Beograd to create one of the largest and most innovative banks in Serbia. The new bank will focus on retail and corporate banking activities for small, medium and large sized companies.

Based on 2005 figures, the new bank that will be created following the legal merger will command combined total assets of 276 million euros, deposits of 189 million euros, loans of 122 million euros and shareholders' funds of 54 million euros.

After the signing of the agreement, the Serb Minister of Finance and Greece's ambassador to Serbia Christos Panagopoulos underlined that the agreement is another proof of the excellent relations shared by the two countries.

[05] GREEK-RUSSIAN MEETING ON THE BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS OIL PIPELINE PROJECT

The promotion of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project construction was examined in the meeting of Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas, deputy minister Anastasios Nerantzis and general secretary Nikos Stefanou with Russian Industry and Energy Ministry general director Anatoly Yanovsky, head of the Russian delegation in the meetings of Russia, Bulgaria and Greece.

They discussed the course of the project and agreed that both parties become more active to speed up construction. Mr. Yanovsky was accompanied by representatives of Russian companies TNK-BP, Rosneft and Gazprom (Sibneft) who met with representatives of the joint venture DEP-Thraki participating on behalf of Greece in the promotion of the project's construction.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Development, the meeting was held in a constructive atmosphere and both parties agreed on the moves to be made for the materialization of the project. They also agreed that the next meeting of the Russian, Bulgarian and Greek delegations will take place in Athens next month.

[06] STYLIANIDIS MET WITH A KUWAITI DELEGATION

Deputy Foreign Minister Evripidis Stylianidis and a Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation in a meeting they had at the Foreign Ministry in Athens today underlined that no more time should be wasted and Greece and Kuwait should move forward and promote business and investment activities now that the Kuwaiti capital surplus looks for investment opportunities.

Mr. Stylianidis stated that the years 2006 and 2007 will be the years during which the Greek economic diplomacy will target East Mediterranean, the Gulf countries and the Arab World in general. He said that these are regions with which Greece shares excellent political and cultural relations but the volume of economic and trade transactions is not at an equally high level.

The Deputy Foreign Minister announced that a business forum of Arab countries will be held in Athens in September with the participation of joint chambers of commerce under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry.

The head of the Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation told Mr. Stylianidis that in the meeting they had with Minister of Economy and Finance Giorgos Alogoskoufis yesterday they discussed the issue of Greek trade fairs in Kuwait.

[07] NEW OPINION POLL BY METRON ANALYSIS

An opinion poll conducted across Greece by polling company Metron Analysis on February 28 - March 13 showed that main opposition Socialist Party PASOK has a lead of 0.3% over ruling party of New Democracy.

PASOK got 35.9% compared to ND with 35.6%, while the Communist Party received 7.3%, LAOS 4.3% and Coalition 3.4%.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is regarded as more fit for the post than PASOK leader Giorgos Papandreou, with 39.4% and 31.7% respectively.

[08] UNEASE IN SOUTH EVROS

The Evros River region in northeast Greece is in a state of alert for a sixth day with the water level of Evros River and its tributaries still high while flood waters begin to recede.

The greater concentration of waters was recorded during the past 24 hours in the southern part of Evros prefecture and specifically in the regions of Soufli and Feres.

More than 24,000 hectares of cultivated land were flooded and hundreds of cattle and sheep were drowned.

Authorities proceeded with an induced levee breach to protect the community of Poros from the flood waters, while migratory birds in Evros are not at any danger.

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