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Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-08

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 08/03/1998 (ANA)


MAIN HEADLINES

  • Greece's position on FYROM name issue unchanged
  • Albanian President due Monday
  • Greece, Romania, Bulgaria police accord
  • Insurance Joint-Surety Fund president killed
  • Bulgarian car-theft gang member arrested at border
  • Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos, Pserimos
  • Weather
  • Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece's position on FYROM name issue unchanged

Greece's position on the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia remains the same, said government spokesman Dimitris Reppas in Komotini on Saturday, calling on the Balkan nation to overcome its unproductive stance on the issue.

Mr. Reppas said that Greece was pursuing a policy of friendship and cooperation with all countries, governed by rules such as respect for borders and sovereignty, for the dignity and the particular elements of each country's identity.

The goverment spokesman said that Greece desires the existence of FYROM with its present borders, stressing that it will be to the benefit of both countries to further develop economic and trade relations as well as cultural exchanges.

Referring to ongoing negotiations between Greece and FYROM over the name issue, underway in New York under the aegis of the United Nations, Mr. Reppas said: "I hope that the quest for an agreement over the name, a process which so far has proven to be fruitless, concludes. For this to happen there must be contribution from the other side by overcoming its persistence, its absolute and immovable stance, a position that is not productive".

"In 1995 we proceeded to the signing of a temporary treaty, the so-called 'interim agreement', that defines the way that relations between the two countries should evolve. We are moving within the framework of the spirit and the wording of this agreement."

Mr. Reppas further said that "our position on this issue under adjudication remains the same, it has not changed. What I must clearly state in today's discussion is the following: All neigbouring countries that are being tested in their effort to cross over to this new world, as they go through the motions and face strong unrest undermined by dangers of instability and political flux, are looking over to Greece to a great degree, as a country that can become their bridge to the modern world".

Albanian President due Monday

Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani arrives in Athens on Monday for a three- day official visit, following an invitation from his Greek counterpart Costis Stephanopoulos.

His talks with both the president and with Prime Minister Costas Simitis will centre on the unrest in Albania's neighbouring Yugoslav province of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians comprise 90 percent of the population.

Another issue on the agenda will be the rights of Albania's ethnic Greek minority, which the new government of Fatos Nano has promised to secure.

In summit meetings last year, "joint solutions" were found to a number of issues concerning the large number of Albanian immigrants in Greece and the education of Albania's ethnic Greeks.

Mr. Mejdani is to meet with Mr. Stephanopoulos shortly after his arrival. Later in the day he will have meetings with the Prime Minister and the leaders of Greece's opposition parties. In the evening he will be guest at a dinner hosted by Mr. Stephanopoulos.

Greece, Romania, Bulgaria police accord

Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are to set up a joint experts' committee to formulate a protocol on practical ways to achieve cooperation both within their police forces and at the legislative level, according to a decision taken at a tripartite ministerial meeting in Thessaloniki on Saturday.

Public Order Minster George Romeos and his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts agreed to the move during their three days of talks in the northern city.

According to Mr. Romeos, the protocol will aim at harmonising legislation not only among the three states but with Europe.

Both the Romanian and Bulgarian ministers emphasised the progress made over the past year in fighting organised crime and illegal immigration.

The Bulgarian minister, Bogomil Bonev, said his country's legislation had alreday been amended in order to facilitate the return of stolen luxury cars from Bulgaria to their owners in Greece.

The Romanian and Bulgarian ministers ended their stay in Greece with a visit to the Mt. Athos all-male monastic community yesterday.

Insurance Joint-Surety Fund president killed

Police today attributed the early-morning killing of the insurance companies' Joint-Surety Fund president, Nikos Sotiropoulos, to hired killers.

Sotiropoulos, 67, was killed by two gunmen at 2:15 a.m. as he left his car to enter his holiday home in the Athens seaside resort town of Saronida, near Cape Sounion.

Sotiropoulos, who was shot three times in the head, died almost instantaneously according to a preliminary coroner's report.

Athens security police believe Sotiropoulos' killing was an act of vengeance, and that the owners of one or more insurance companies whose licences were recently revoked had hired the gunmen, although they were also investigating other possibilities, a police spokesman told the ANA.

Bulgarian car-theft gang member arrested at border

A 35-year-old Bulgarian has been arrested at the Promachon border post in Serres, northern Greece, as he was attempting to smuggle into Bulgaria a Volvo automobile stolen in Italy, police said today.

Police said Borian Balev was arrested today as he was attempting to drive the Volvo, with licence plate EO356-H -- stolen earlier this month in Milan and belonging to Italian national Ivo Raoni -- across the Greek-Bulgarian border.

Since early 1996 to the present, "the Bulgarian mafia has stolen approximately 120 luxury cars in Greece and Italy, most of which were then smuggled into Bulgaria," a police spokesman told the ANA.

The spokesman said the stolen cars were then altered at used car lots in Bulgaria before being shipped off to countries in Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union for sale at very low prices.

Many of those cars were ensuingly dismantled and sold as spare parts to foreign markets, the spokesman added.

Illegal immigrants arrested on Samos, Pserimos

Police today arrested a group of 20 Iraqi illegal immigrants, all of Kurdish origin, at the Mourtia beach on the island of Samos in the eastern Aegean.

The 11 men, five women and four children told police they had been left off at dawn by a Turkish boat-runner.

They also said that there were many more Iraqi Kurds gathered on Turkey's Asia Minor coast waiting to be ferried to Greek islands in the Aegean, a police spokesman told the ANA.

Another thirty-eight illegal immigrants, most of them Kurds, were arrested on a beach on the island of Pserimos on Friday. They were taken to Kalymnos police station, where they said they had been ferried across to the island from the Turkish coast in a wooden boat for a fee of 1,000 dollars each.

WEATHER

Light cloud is forecast for most of the country on Monday, with rain expected in western Greece. Light westerly winds will pick up during the day reaching strong to very strong in the open sea. Athens will be increasingly cloudy with a chance of showers late at night and temperatures ranging from 10 to 18 degrees centigrade. Cloudy over Thessaloniki turning into showers in the afternoon, with temperatures 7-15C.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Friday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 287.253 Pound sterling 470.089 Cyprus pd 534.807 French franc 46.779 Swiss franc 192.746 German mark 156.815 Italian lira (100) 15.960 Yen (100) 225.571 Canadian dlr. 202.408 Australian dlr. 191.783 Irish Punt 390.332 Belgian franc 7.606 Finnish mark 51.681 Dutch guilder 139.148 Danish kr. 41.154 Swedish kr. 35.637 Norwegian kr. 37.803 Austrian sch. 22.298 Spanish peseta 1.851 Port. Escudo 1.534

(L.G.)


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