Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 00-08-29

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Simitis says Thessaloniki fair will be a complete success

[02] Gov't defends wildfire preparedness, high alert in force

[03] Authorities release official translation of Romanian report on Falcon accident

[04] Russia completes delivery of anti-aircraft missiles to Greece

[05] Simitis to meet with Cypriot president in New York next month

[06] Reppas takes the UN to task

[07] Titan Cement to acquire US building materials firm

[08] Greece to seek strategic partner for Hellenic Petroleum

[09] Panafon says subscription base exceeds two million

[10] Petzetakis reports 23 percent rise in 1st half sales

[11] Fourlis reports 617 percent jump in pre-tax profits

[12] Sarantopoulos reports 51 percent rise in 1st half turnover

[13] Greek stocks fall to new 16-month lows

[14] Equity futures end down, tracking Athens bourse

[15] Bond prices flat in zero trade

[16] Drachma ends down vs. euro, dollar

[17] ND deputies put question to European Commission on preventing manipulation of stock markets

[18] Six businessmen arrested on drug trafficking charges

[19] Smuggling vessel carrying nearly seven million cigarettes intercepted off Crete

[20] 21 dead and 257 injured in traffic accidents over the weekend

[21] Greek Archbishop to meet Patriarch Diodoros

[22] Patriarch to open int'l scientific conference in Istanbul

[23] Gov't terms Denktash visit to Strovilia a provocation

[24] Turkish Cypriots restrict movement of UNFICYP personnel

[01] Simitis says Thessaloniki fair will be a complete success

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

"It would be no exaggeration to say that this year's Fair will chiefly reflect the successful course of the national economy and the bright prospects for growth and prosperity in our country," Simitis said in his message.

Continuing, Simitis said the event would provide clear-cut proof that the Greek economy was competitive and that Greek products were of high quality. It would also demonstrate the active and dynamic presence of Greek public and private enterprises in Balkan countries, in combination with important and ground-breaking business initiatives.

Finally, he added, the fair would also prove that Thessaloniki "was now an established commercial and industrial junction between the European Union and the Balkan countries," and highlight the steps that had been taken to turn the city into the economic capital of the Balkan region.

Participating countries

For the first time in many years, Turkey and the US will be among the countries participating in TIF - the latter as the country of honour. Up to 75 companies from neighbouring Turkey will be repre-sented at TIF, a fact welcomed by TIF president George Sortikos.

In total, there are 1,300 companies from 40 countries taking part in the 65th annual TIF, with 17 through an official state pavilion. Visitors can also enjoy a number of cultural events on the sidelines of the trade fair, many organised by the US as "honoured" country.

Among these is a concert by Alkistis Protopsalti on Sunday, September 3, at the Palais de Sport, followed three days later by Nikos Papacostas and Franco Simone on September 6.

According to the organisers, the highlight will be a concert by Maria Farandouri who will present the same show as at the EXPO 2000 fair in Hanover, for a triumphal close to the 65th TIF.

[02] Gov't defends wildfire preparedness, high alert in force

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Instead, both the government spokesman and Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou blamed extremely dry weather conditions and brisk winds as contributing factors in many of the blazes.

On his part, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas referred to "human culpability" in the case of several wildfires, while noting that the fire brigade remained on high alert to prevent any rekindling of fires, especially in the Agia Marina region of Ioannina prefecture (extreme NW Greece) and Arcadia prefecture in the central Peloponnese.

Reppas also defended the government's preparations to combat wildfires, as main opposition New Democracy party over the weekend sharply criticised what it called delays, poor planning and lack of coordination of fire-fighting efforts.

Finally, the government spokesman thanked the Israeli government for its assistance in the form of two fire-fighting helicopters.

The dire situation in many of the fire-stricken areas and the entire issue of preventing and combating wildfires was discussed on Monday, meanwhile, during a meeting between Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Papandreou. Afterwards, the interior minister told reporters that damages were enormous, although detailed figures have not yet been calculated.

"State services' preparation to deal with wildfires was the best ever until today, in both airborne and ground forces. However, unforeseeable weather condition weren't able to be predicted... no country, in fact, no matter how developed it is - such as the United States - was able to fare better," she said, adding that around 100 new wildfires are being reported on a daily basis throughout the country.

On Friday, Papandreou acknowledged that the state's firefighting drive, although extensive, was insufficient

Finally, firefighters on Monday were continuing to focus efforts on containing two major blazes near Ioannina that had spilled into Greece from Albania and were responsible for the death of seven elderly people last week.

Power and telephone companies crews were also attempting to restore phone and power service to the stricken areas, mostly remote mountainous communities.

[03] Authorities release official translation of Romanian report on Falcon accident

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

According to the report, the accident was the result of malfunctioning equipment and human error.

The committee investigating the causes of the accident, which included experts from France, the US, Germany and Britain, said that the aircraft experienced 10 vertical drops for about 24 seconds. Passengers not wearing seatbelts were slammed against the walls and against free-standing objects within the cabin, resulting in seven deaths.

The committee concludes that there had been a bad assessment of the danger because of a malfunctioning power equalizer, compounding by the crew's interference with the automatic pilot and mistaken instructions in the case of high speeds that kind of damage. The deaths, the committee concludes, were the result of passengers not wearing seatbelts during the landing.

[04] Russia completes delivery of anti-aircraft missiles to Greece

MOSCOW 29/08/2000 (ANA/Itar-Tass/AP)

The delivery of the short-range missiles was completed about a year after the first four systems arrived in Greece.

The news agency cited an unnamed spokesman for Russia's military-industrial complex as saying the last batch of anti-aircraft missile systems was shipped to Greece on Monday. The implemented contract was worth 525 million dollars. The Antei concern rates second for armaments exports among Russian exporters after Rosvooruzheniye, the spokesman said.

He said Antei signed another contract with Greece for the sum of 300 million dollars to deliver an extra consignment of such anti-aircraft missile systems. The additional contract was signed after successful control launchings of missiles on targets at a NATO range. They showed the high quality and reliability of Russian armaments and gave an opportunity to continue effectively the military-technical cooperation of the two countries, the spokesman said.

[05] Simitis to meet with Cypriot president in New York next month

NICOSIA 29/08/2000 (ANA)

[06] Reppas takes the UN to task

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

He said the UN had been briefed by the Cypriot government with the full support of Athens.

[07] Titan Cement to acquire US building materials firm

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The Greek cement maker said in a statement on Monday that it has signed the takeover contract for Tarmac, a member of the Anglo-American Group Plc., in a deal due for completion in about two months after permission from US regulatory authorities. The purchase cost includes working capital.

Under the terms of the contract, Titan will acquire a cement production plant in Florida with an annual capacity of one million tonnes; two quarries that led to production of aggregates totaling 8.5 million tonnes in 1999; 45 quarries in Florida and Virginia, 25 units for the production and sale of various building materials; and a 41 percent stake in a cement plant in Virginia.

The Titan Group has forged a parallel contract for the resale of Tarmac's quarrying activities for 227 million US dollars to Vulcan Materials of the US, as they have no strategic interest for the Greek firm, the statement said.

Titan has secured funding for the acquisition from Bank of America, National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank, and there are no plans for a share capital increase.

The investment more than triples the Group's presence in the US and reinforces its position in the international market, Titan said.

[08] Greece to seek strategic partner for Hellenic Petroleum

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

He said that Hellenic Petroleum would take all necessary measures to evolve into a powerful international company. "Today, the company has a dominant position in the area, but it is unable to play a significant role in a European energy market which is dominated by high capitalization companies, a result of alliance and merger deals," Christodoulakis said.

Following such a move, the state's stake in Hellenic Petroleum's equity capital could fall below 51 percent.

Christodoulakis announced the creation of two new natural gas supply companies, in eastern Macedonia and Thrace and in eastern Central Greece with an expected consumption capacity of 500 million cubic meters annually.

He also said that a preliminary report on the construction of a natural gas pipeline between Greece and Italy has been completed and that the project would be funded by domestic and foreign investment capital.

A Russian delegation is expected to arrive in Greece this week to discuss problems relating to the price of Russian natural gas supplies to Greece.

Christodoulakis acknowledged that rising international oil prices were a cause of concern and said that the government has already taken measures for a tighter supervision of the domestic energy market.

The Greek government is in the process of a market research aiming for the full privatization of Skaramanga Shipyards, the only way to halt the loss-making course of the shipyard and to save jobs.

Christodoulakis said that Skaramanga Shipyards were expected to report a loss of 12 billion drachmas this year, the same as in 1999, with the company unable to increase its turnover. The government predicts that this year's turnover could be 40 percent lower from a 13 billion drachmas figure in 1998.

[09] Panafon says subscription base exceeds two million

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The company also reported a 19.6 percent rise in its pre-tax profits in the second quarter of the year to 19.7 billion drachmas, and a rise in its pre-tax profit margin to 27.6 percent, from 24.3 percent in the same period last year.

Its turnover rose to 71.3 billion drachmas but mobile phone sets sales' revenues fell 64 percent over the same period.

Pre-tax, interest and redemptions profit totaled 28.8 billion drachmas, while operational profits totaled 21.1 billion drachmas, a 15.1 percent increase from 1999.

[10] Petzetakis reports 23 percent rise in 1st half sales

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The company's consolidated pre-tax profits totaled 1.203 billion drachmas from 887 million the same period last year, an increase of 36 percent.

Group affiliates' profits totaled 500 million drachmas in the January-June period, up 128 percent from last year.

Petzetakis announced the start of operation of its new distribution center in Larissa, central Greece, and the set up of branches in Bucharest, Romania, under the name Petzetakis Romania.

The Group acquired a remaining 24 percent stake in Vechro, for 950 million drachmas, raising its equity stake to 84 percent in the company.

[11] Fourlis reports 617 percent jump in pre-tax profits

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Pre-tax profits totaled 4.0 billion drachmas excluding minority rights, up 230 percent from last year.

Group sales increased 56 percent over the same period to 81 billion drachmas.

The company has completed a plan for the reform of its structure in the first half of the year. The parent company of Fourlis Group Holding will exclusively coordinate and supervise the operations of the group's 18 companies.

[12] Sarantopoulos reports 51 percent rise in 1st half turnover

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Company profitability also improved, with pre-tax profits rising to 1.35 billion drachmas in the January-June period in 2000, from 943 million last year.

Sarantopoulos expects this year's turnover to total 32 billion drachmas, from 22.3 billion in 1999, and profits at 3.2 billion from 2.4 billion last year.

[13] Greek stocks fall to new 16-month lows

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Traders said the market's negative climate led to speculation over a fall below the 3,500 support level, although analysts said the market would find strong support at the 3,550 level in the short-term.

The general index ended 1.98 percent lower at 3,558.99 points with turnover a low 44.33 billion drachmas. The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 1.79 percent to 2,011.76 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 2.17 percent to end at 478.74 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalization stocks ended at 596.34 points, off 2.79 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 306 to 36 with another four issues unchanged.

Hellenic Stock Markets, Hellenic Telecoms, National Bank, Teletypos, Alpha Bank and Aegek were the most heavily traded stocks.

[14] Equity futures end down, tracking Athens bourse

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The FTSE/ASE 20 index closed 1.79 percent down, and the FTSE/ASE 40 ended 2.17 percent lower.

Turnover was 6.21 billion drachmas.

A total of 703 contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 with turnover at 2.8 billion drachmas.

On the FTSE/ASE 40 index, 1,732 contracts changed hands on turnover of 3.3 billion drachmas.

[15] Bond prices flat in zero trade

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 6.051 percent from the previous session.

The Greek paper's yield spread over German bunds was 81 basis points from 82 basis points a trading day earlier.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system was zero from 6.0 billion drachmas the session before.

[16] Drachma ends down vs. euro, dollar

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

At the central bank's daily fixing, the euro was set at 337.58 drachmas from 337.490 drachmas in the previous session.

Also at the fix, the dollar was set at 375.07 drachmas from 374.350 drachmas a day earlier.

[17] ND deputies put question to European Commission on preventing manipulation of stock markets

BRUSSELS, 29/08/2000 (ANA - G. Zitouniati)

The two deputies said that Greek press reports and a report by a top cadre of the main opposition had led to a judicial inquiry into the claims, which found strong evidence that the Public Securities Company (DEKA) and various financial organizations controlled by the state had tampered with the Athens stock market prior to the April 9 elections in order to affect the election results.

Trakatellis and Marinos claimed that the organizations in question had bought shares in state-owned companies to artificially boost their stock prices, only to sell them at much lower prices later and pass the losses on to the tax-payers and investors in these companies.

In their question to the European Commission, the two deputies ask whether this state interference constitutes an attempt to manipulate the stock market and whether it violates EU directives as regards stock markets.

They ended their question by asking whether the Commission would include measures to avoid similar situations in the draught directive against market manipulation that it is scheduled to present by the end of this year.

[18] Six businessmen arrested on drug trafficking charges

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Philippos Makris, Angelos Kanakis, Costas Athanassiou, Ioannis Lemos, Theodoros Fatsis and Nickos Mavridoglou were arrested as a result of a multinational effort to crack down a drug trafficking cartel that used commercial vessels to ship tons of cocaine via Venezuela to countries in Europe and North America.

A seventh Greek suspect has been arrested in France, authorities said.

The six along with their alien accomplices are scheduled to appear before a public prosecutor on Monday, police said.

[19] Smuggling vessel carrying nearly seven million cigarettes intercepted off Crete

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The captain of the smuggling vessel, Iordanis Sidiropoulos, 49, started his engines on seeing the coast-guard patrol boat and tried to ram it, causing slight damage to the bow.

On the threat of the use of fire-arms, however, he complied with orders to turn his freighter round and head for the port of Sitia, where the contraband cargo was discovered and he and the crew, four Ukrainians and four Indians, were arrested. The cigarettes were loaded at Port Said Port and were destined for Latvia.

[20] 21 dead and 257 injured in traffic accidents over the weekend

Athens, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

Police reported 171 traffic accidents for the last weekend in August, which signals the end of summer vacations for many in Greece.

[21] Greek Archbishop to meet Patriarch Diodoros

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos, currently on a visit to Jerusalem, on Monday held a mass at the tomb of the Virgin Mary in Gethsemane. Jerusalem's Orthodox Christians, who follow the old calendar, celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin on this day.

Later on Monday, Christodoulos was scheduled to meet Jerusalem Patriarch Diodoros, who is suffering health problems. On Tuesday, Christodoulos is scheduled to meet with Israel's minister for religious affairs.

[22] Patriarch to open int'l scientific conference in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 29/08/2000 (ANA)

The conference is being held under the Patriarchate's auspices, within the framework of events marking the 2000-year anniversary of the birth of Christ.

[23] Gov't terms Denktash visit to Strovilia a provocation

NICOSIA 29/08/2000 (CNA/ANA)

Papapetrou noted that the trustworthiness of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) would be judged by the Strovilia issue, adding that although the United Nations had made an effort in the right direction, this effort was not effective.

The Turkish occupation forces illegally put up a check point in this south-eastern area as part of measures against UNFICYP in retaliation to the non-inclusion of an addendum in a report by UN chief Kofi Annan for the renewal of the Force's mandate with a Turkish demand for separate discussions with UNFICYP.

"The government will make a representation within the day towards the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council" about Denktash's visit and will bring up once again the demand "for the restoration of the status quo ante in the Strovilia area", Papapetrou said.

Noting that "on the part of the UN there is an effort in the right direction", Papapetrou pointed out that "it was not as effective as we would have wished for".

"The issue of Strovilia is one by which the trustworthiness of the presence of UNFICYP is judged", he said.

Asked about the meeting on Monday between President Glafcos Clerides and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Zbigniew Wlosovicz, Papapetrou said that their talks covered the issue of Strovilia and other matters of a general nature, in relation to the forthcoming UN-led proximity talks on the Cyprus problem.

The proximity talks, separate meetings of the UN with President Clerides and Denktash, began last December and a fourth round is to begin on September 12 in New York, aiming at paving the way for substantive negotiations, leading to a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus, divided since Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island.

Papapetrou said that "the UN intervention towards the Turkish side is through diplomatic representations, in an effort to persuade the status quo in Strovilia", adding that for the Cyprus government, "what counts and matters is the restoration of the status quo, as it was before the recent provocative actions of the Turkish troops".

He said that "the government is pushing for the issue to be brought before the Security Council, to directly take it's responsibilities", noting that the letters the government was to send on Monday to "serve this cause".

[24] Turkish Cypriots restrict movement of UNFICYP personnel

NICOSIA, 29/08/2000 (CNA/ANA)

UN Deputy Representative Zbigniew Wlosowicz told the press after a meeting with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides that the UN is to evaluate all the facts before it and then draw its conclusions on the issue, noting that the restrictions cause practical difficulties to UNFICYP.

"I want to assure you that we have been trying to do all that we could in order to change that. And I am still hoping we will be able to change it," he said.

Turkish Cypriots restricted the movement of UNFICYP personnel in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus on 30 June in retaliation for a UN decision to drop an addendum from a Cyprus report, which referred to separate consultations between the UN and the Turkish Cypriots on the maintenance of the force on the island.

Moreover they violated the status quo in the area of Strovilia by moving forward a check-point and cutting of the few Greek Cypriot inhabitants of the village and UN staff at a nearby observation post.

Describing his visit as a courtesy call, Wlosowicz said "as soon as we have all the facts, we will evaluate them and will reach the conclusions," adding that all the information on Strovilia is necessary in order to "say something more concrete."

"We are trying to get back to the normal way of operating and the situation known before 30 June," Wlosowicz said, stressing that efforts are being made not only on the island but also at the UN.

Asked if UNFICYP has difficulties in carrying out its duties, he said these are of a practical nature.

UN personnel, he said, now has to drive five to six hours instead of 15 minutes because many of its crossing points are now closed.

"We used to have 14 crossing points and now we have four. That does not make our life easy and we are trying to change that," he concluded.

Wlosowicz, who attended the latest round of UN proximity talks in Geneva in July, is set to be in New York next month for the fourth round, beginning 12 September.

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