Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-03-04

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 04/03/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Athens reiterates call for dialogue to defuse Kosovo crisis
• Greece in major NATO exercise in North Atlantic, Iberian peninsula
• Van den Broek-Kranidiotis discuss Cyprus' EU accession
• US congressional committee criticises Turkey's human rights record
• Stephanopoulos inaugurates A.I. campaign in Greece
• Karamanlis rejects notion that ND is drifting more to the right
• KYSEA announces decisions for top military posts
• Kavala's archaeological museum being upgraded
• Athens air pollution shows decline, says minister
• New center to combat tuberculosis, meningitis incidences
• Gov't announces banks taking part in bond loan
• Greek stocks jump on angst-free money market
• EU urges Greece to improve food control
• Tourism company of Crete established
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece yesterday called for a solution to the Kosovo crisis through dialogue which respected the rights of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians and secured the unity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia.

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas, expressing the government's concern at the recent violence in Kosovo, said that apart from Prime Minister Costas Simitis' telephone conversations with his Albanian counterpart Fatos Nano on the issue, Foreign Unders ecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis had a meeting yesterday with the Yugoslav embassy's charge d'affaires. Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos' visit to Belgrade at the end of this week would also be a good opportunity for a discussion and finding a solution to the problem, said Mr. Reppas, adding that Greece was ready to offer its good services.

The spokesman was non-committal on reports that a meeting on Kosovo was being planned for the end of March, to take place in Athens. Mr. Reppas simply said in response to questions that many initiatives were under way but that it was premature to speak of scheduled meetings between the region's leaders.

Mr. Pangalos is also to visit Podgorica,the capital of Montenegro, Mr. Reppas added.

Greece in major NATO exercise in North Atlantic, Iberian Peninsula

The NATO alliance's largest exercise of the year,code-named "Strong Resolve '98" will take place in the North Atlantic and the Iberian Peninsula between March 9-21.

All NATO member-states will participate in this massive military exercise, while seven countries observing NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) initiative will also participate for the first time, including Austria, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.

The exercise is aimed at testing NATO's ability to tackle two crises developing in two different geographic regions at the same time.

Greece will participate in the exercise in the Iberian Peninsula with the frigate "Spetsai", four F-16 aircraft, as well as with a number of officers for the staff of the joint combined force.

Van den Broek-Kranidiotis discuss Cyprus' EU accession

Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis met in Brussels last night with Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek.

The meeting came a few days after a five-day visit Mr. Kranidiotis paid to Cyprus and in light of today's visit to the island republic by Mr. van den Broek, where he will be accompanied, according to reports, by Britain's envoy to Cyprus Sir David Hannay.

In a statement after meeting with Kranidiotis, Mr. van den Broek said the refusal of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to see him was regrettable and expressed the hope he will change his position soon.

He said that with Mr. Kranidiotis he also discussed the issue of the participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the negotiating delegation of Cyprus. He will also discuss the issue with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides.

He further said that he will discuss the issue of a resumption of inter- communal talks with Mr. Clerides.

Replying to a question on whether the issue of the Turkish Cypriots' participation could jeopardise the start to accession negotiations with Cyprus on March 31, Mr. van den Broek said it will be seen what will be done by then.

Mr. Kranidiotis said he briefed Mr. van den Broek on Greek positions and on his discussions in Cyprus and on Greece's reservations over all the plans of the British EU presidency on the opening positions of the "15" at the start to the EU's enlargement process on March 30-31.

The proposals of the EU presidency on the opening position of the "15" regarding Cyprus do not satisfy Greece and at present a compromise formula is being sought in the framework of the "15".

US Congressional committee criticises Turkey's human rights record

A US Congressional Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe yesterday released a letter on the subject of human rights to Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, which also contains a call for the reopening of the Theological School of Halki, in the context of commitments undertaken by Turkey towards the OSCE.

The letter, dated Feb. 24, and signed by members of the committee which recently visited Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, is highly critical of Turkey for its continued violation of human rights, despite Mr. Yilmaz's assurances that he intended to change the current situation.

Stephanopoulos inaugurates A.I. campaign in Greece

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos yesterday inaugurated an Amnesty International (AI) campaign in Greece commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The event at the presidential mansion was also attended, among others, by the Prime Minister Costas Simitis, main opposition New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis and other political leaders.

In his address, the president said the existence of democratic rights was not a guarantee of human rights.

"There are states which are not democratic, and there are states which despite having secured an electoral process as a means for the expression of popular sovereignty have no respect for human rights whatsoever.

"There are also states which are really democratic, which are only interested in human rights domestically, and are indifferent to what goes on around them. They may be interested more in the free flow of oil or other serious matters," he said.

Mr. Stephanopoulos expressed his satisfaction with the fact that "in Greece, we can be easily compared to any other civilised nation in Europe with respect to human rights, without this meaning that we have reached ideal situations".

Karamanlis rejects notion that ND is drifting more to the right

Main opposition New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis yesterday dismissed the notion that ND was increasingly moving to the right, stressing that it has carved an unwavering course in the middle of the political spectrum, guided by a progressive economic credo and with a high degree of social sensitivity.

He said the state should provide incentives to citizens to promote creativity, and stand by them when they face problems.

Mr. Karamanlis on Monday will chair a session of the party's Parliamentary group regarding the method of selection for the candidates the party will support in municipal and prefectural elections later in the year.

Sources said that former prime minister Costantine Mitsotakis is likely to attend the session, one day after delivering a speech at the Propeller Club in Thessaloniki, Mr. Karamanlis' constituency. The party is to elect new chairpersons of prefectural committees over the weekend.

KYSEA announces decisions for top military posts

The Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) convened yesterday to decide on the promotions of the nation's high-ranking military officers.

Gen. Athanasios Tzoganis was re-appointed as the National Defence General Staff Chief; Lt. Gen. Manousos Paragioudakis was re-appointed Army General Staff Chief; Rear Adm. Georgios Ioannidis was appointed Navy General Staff Chief and Lt. Gen. Georgios Antonetsis was re-appointed Air Force General Staff Chief.

Rear Adm. Nikolaos Katsaros was appointed fleet commander.

Kavala's archaeological museum being upgraded

Kavala's archaeological museum is being significantly upgraded to be able to exhibit rare collections found at excavations in the last 50 years.

The new collections date from the pre-history and classical civilisations in the northeast of Greece.

The new works involve a general upgrade for the museum, its installations and a revamping of the museum's exhibition spaces.

"Kavala's new museum has begun. The building is already being extended. At this stage we are working on a special cultural events hall which will house occasional exhibitions and will give new impetus to reaching out to the public beyond the strict boun daries of a museum," the head of the classical and pre-history antiquities section in Kavala, Haido Koukoulis- Chyrsanthankis said.

The new wing of the museum will be ready by the end of 1999 and along with the other projects, will cost a total o 1.3 billion drachmas.

The second stage of works foresees the contruction of laboratories and storage areas in the museum, which will handle artifacts from all museums in the eastern Macedonia and Thrace region.

The increasing importance of the Kavala Museum will also entail a corresponding increase in specialised personnel - archaeologists, restorers, lab assistants and experts and guards.

Athens air pollution shows decline, says minister

Air pollution in Athens has significantly decreased over the last three years as a result of the programme "Anti-pollution Attica SOS" which is aimed at reducing the city's air pollution by 30% before 2004 when Greece is to stage the Olympic Games, Environment Minister Costas Laliotis said yesterday.

Mr. Laliotis added that at no time during 1997 had there been a need to impose a ban on cars within the city centre, usual when pollution levels are high.

The reductions ranged from 8.1 percent for emissions of carbon monoxide to 40.5 percent for emisions of sulphur dioxide.

A seven-billion drachma programme will be under way over the next two years to increase the number of mobile units monitoring pollution levels around the city and to form a special unit to enforce environmental regulations in industries. According to figures presented by Mr. Laliotis, in 1997 nearly half the 2,401,410 vehicles circulating in Greece had catalytic converters, only 10 percent of these were outside areas of high pollution.

Forty-eight percent of all vehicles circulate in Athens.

The ministry has included various projects aimed at reducing air pollution in the second Community Support Framework with a budget of 15 billion drachmas, scheduled for completion within 1999.

New center to combat tuberculosis, meningitis incidences

Tuberculosis and meningitis - both diseases long thought to be under control - are making a reappearance in Greece, experts said yesterday. Thirty-five cases of a new form of meningitis have been recorded since the beginning of the year, three of them fatal.The increase is attributed in part to a new, con tagious strain of meningitis - the inflammation of the meninges, particularly as a result of infection from bacteria or viruses - dubbed 'C'.

Recent studies on 2,000 migrants to Greece have also shown an increased incidence of tuberculosis compared to the general population. Some 1,000 cases of tuberculosis were officially recorded last year but experts say that the real figure is more likel y closer to 3,000. The figures were announced at a news conference on the establishment of a central epidemiological centre which will monitor and study the incidence of communicable diseases.

The center hopes to act as a central body for the documentation of diseases such as meningitis, tuberculosis and Hepatitis A.

Officially called the Center for Epidemiological Supervision and Intervention, the center aims to detect new strains of disease in their infancy and take timely action to prevent their spreading.

Experts said that they were already predicting a new outbreak of measles but said they were not making the announcement to cause panic but to inform physicians of the need to take preventive action. The center will have a nationwide brief and have at its disposal a mobile laboratory which will be able to set up and conduct on-the-spot pathology tests. Its brief will extend to testing of foodstuffs considered to be a public health hazard.

Gov't announces banks taking part in bond loan

Finance Undersecretary Nikos Christodoulakis yesterday named the banks that will handle a seven-billion dollar bond loan arranged for Greece in the US. The 17 banks are as follows: Lead Managers

Greek stocks jump on angst-free money market

Greek equities ended sharply higher in the first trading session of the week yesterday, helped by stable conditions in the domestic money market and healthy 1997 corporate results.

The general index closed 1.86 percent higher at 1,445.65 points with most sector indices scoring gains.

Banks rose 1.88 percent, Insurance increased 1.48 percent, Industrials jumped 2.60 percent, Miscellaneous ended 0.75 percent higher and Holding was 1.58 percent up. Leasing fell 2.03 percent, Investment plunged 4.29 percent and Construction eased 0.40 p ercent.

The parallel market index rose 0.53 percent. The FTSE/ASE blue chip index soared 2.23 percent.

Trading was moderate with turnover at 16.1 billion drachmas.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 120 to 95 with another 22 issues unchanged.

Benroubi, Greek Aluminium, Hellas Can, Alco and Ergas scored the biggest percentage gains at the daily 8.0 percent upper volatility limit. Technodomi, Parnassos and Alpha Invest suffered the heaviest losses.

National Bank of Greece ended at 20,790 drachmas, Ergobank at 14,845, Alpha Credit Bank at 15,650, Delta Dairy at 2,900, Titan Cement at 13,900, Intracom at 14,545 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 5, 850.

EU urges Greece to improve food control

A European Union committee urged Greece to improve coordination and communication among regulatory authorities in order to develop a more efficient system of food control.

The EU has adopted legislation providing the European Commission with the power to monitor food-control systems in the 15 member states.

The committee is conducting annual visits to EU member-states in order to evaluate progress.

Tourism company of Crete established

A charter for the creation of a tourism company of Crete was signed in Rethimno yesterday in the presence of Greek Tourism Organisation (EOT) Secretary General Nikos Skoulas.

Mr. Skoulas said that harmonious cooperation between agencies on the island can be an example worth duplicating in other areas in the country.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.E.)

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