Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-03-30
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 30/03/1998 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- SE European youth ministers meet
- Flood compensation approved
- Greek,Turkish scientists cooperate on public health
- Cyprus starts membership talks with EU today
- Greek and Albanian defence ministers meet in Ioannina
- Premier to chair KYSEA meeting today
- Papoulias heads parliamentary delegation to Tirana
- Weather
- Foreign Exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
SE European youth ministers meet
Education Minister Gerassimos Arsenis on Monday stressed the need to gear
specific initiatives and actions to the needs of youth, while opening the
sessions of the 1st Ministerial Conference of Southeast European Countries
on Youth Issues in Athens.
"In investing in the future, we invest in the young people," he said. "We
must offer them developmental experiences so that they will become active
citizens of society, more opportunities so that they can try and be tried.
The young people must feel they are citizens of the universe. The global
village is here, and we cannot shut our eyes."
Similar meetings on youth issues will be held in late April in Bucharest
(Council of Europe ministers), and in August in Lisbon (1st world
conference).
Balkan countries' non-governmental youth organisations began meeting in
Athens yesterday to coordinate policies for the youth in these countries.
Delegates from Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Romania, and Greece met and discussed issues
ranging form education and minority rights to equal opportunities and human
rights in the region. Turkish non-governmental organisations were invited
as well, but did not attend. Bosnia-Herzegovina is also absent.
The youth conference ended today, with participants stressing the need to
formalise cooperation between them and to organise meetings along with the
wider public and governments of Balkan countries to highlight issues
affecting youth.
The conclusions of the youth conference were handed over to the ministerial
conference for their consideration in the issuing of a joint communique
later tonight.
The conclusions include a restatement of the right to education, health and
equal opportunity and called for better education and vocational training
to offset rising unemployment among youth.
Flood compensation approved
Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis said
Monday that people who suffered damages from last week's storms and floods
would initially receive 200,000 dr. in compensation, while compensation of
up to 2 million dr. for wrecked household appliances would also be
forthcoming.
He also said businesses suffering damages would be subsidised for one third
of the damage and would receive loans under auspicious terms to meet the
balance, while the same measure would also apply for homes that suffered
substantial damage.
Sources said that Mr. Laliotis has also ordered the Western Attica
prefectural office to speed up procedures for the expropriation of land
required to carry out anti-flooding works and, if problems arose, to go
ahead with requisition of the land.
Greek,Turkish scientists cooperate on public health
A two-day meeting beginning in Nafplio on Thursday will provide the
opportunity for Greek and Turkish scientists to discuss and cooperate on
public health problems associated with the movement of populations.
Representatives of Greek and Turkish scientific organisations will be
taking part in the meeting, which will focus on the problem of AIDS and
other sexually transmitted diseases with respect to the movement of
migrants, tourists and so-called "special" groups such as gypsies.
The initiative for the meeting belongs to Welfare Undersecretary Theodoros
Kotsonis.
"Populations on the move sometimes belong to disadvantaged groups which
often face more acute or particular health problems which they either had
before or acquired after their movement. These problems must be dealt with
in the most effective manner, as too must the repercussions of the movement
of such populations on public health," Kotsonis told a press conference
today.
Kotsonis also stressed the need for cooperation between all the countries
of the European Union and also of the Balkans, where the movement of
populations is particularly marked.
Cyprus starts membership talks with EU today
The European Union must not be deterred by Turkish intransigence or U.S.
concern from proceeding with membership negotiations with the divided
island of Cyprus, Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said on
Sunday.
Speaking in Brussels on the eve of official membership talks with the EU,
Kasoulides said the Union's open door to Cyprus presented a unique
opportunity to motivate Greek Cypriots and their ethnic Turkish rivals to
resolve their long feud.
"Don't destroy this leverage by saying only if you unite (the island) can
you enter Europe," Kasoulides said. This would be tantamount to giving
Turkey a veto over the island's future.
"The only leverage comes from the EU," he added.
After meeting United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Geneva on
Saturday, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said talks on unifying
Cyprus were dead unless negotiations to take the island into the European
Union were delayed.
In terms of its economy and democratic institutions, Cyprus is favoured to
enter the wealthy EU in the next wave of "enlargement", perhaps in
2002.
The Greek and Turkish communities have been separated by U.N. peacekeepers
since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus in response to
a Greek Cypriot coup to unite the island with Greece.
The Turkish Cypriots, 17 percent of the island's population, declared
independence in 1983. Only Turkey recognizes them. The Greek Cypriot
government is internationally recognised and has support from EU-member
Greece for its membership bid.
Greek and Albanian defence ministers meet in Ioannina
"Greece has never been, nor will ever become, a country of racist attitudes
and racist phenomena," National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said
in the northern Greek town of Ioannina yesterday, after talks with visiting
Albanian counterpart Sabit Brokaj.
The Albanian defence minister told reporters that "some isolated incidents
do not threaten the friendly relations" between the two neighbouring
countries.
The ministers' talks focussed on a Greek proposal for the establishment of
a multinational peacekeeping force in the Balkans.
The proposal had been discussed in Sophia in October at a meeting of Balkan
defence undersecretaries.
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos agreed to an Albanian proposal that the Balkan
undersecretaries meet again in Tirana on May 21.
The two ministers also discussed recent developments in Yugoslavia's strife-
torn Kosovo region.
Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said that the Greek government firmly opposed armed
violence in the region, while at the same time it endorsed respect of human
rights, which he said could be achieved only through dialogue among the
sides involved.
Mr. Brokaj referred to the meeting of Southeast European leaders hosted on
the Greek island of Crete last November, which he described as a "historic"
event which, however, "Europe did not take appropriate advantage of in
order to avert the bloody events in Kosovo".
He said the Crete meeting "should have been followed up by other meetings
among Tirana, Kosovo and Belgrade, but it was not".
Premier to chair KYSEA meeting today
Prime Minister Costas Simitis will preside today at the meeting of the
Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA), in efforts to
decide the future arms aquisition programme.
The council is expected to decide on anti-aircraft arms for the protection
of the country and specifically for the islands as well as the new type of
warplane to be purchased by the government.
Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos noted that the issues of civil defence
and the creation of a national arms purchase fund will also be discussed.
Papoulias heads parliamentary delegation to Tirana
A delegation of the Greek Parliament Foreign and Defence Affairs Committee,
led by former foreign minister Carolos Papoulias, arrived here yesterday at
the invitation of the corresponding Albanian committee.
The delegation will be informed on the current political situation in the
country as well as the course of Greek-Albanian relations.
The delegation met with Archbishop of Tirana and all of Albania Anastasios
while today they are to meet with Albanian President Rexhep Mejdani, Prime
Minister Fatos Nano and former Albanian president and Democratic Party
leader Sali Berisha among others .
The delegates will visit the Greek military force in Albania, and also hold
talks with their Albanian counterparts and representatives of the Greek
minority.
The visit is within the framework of contacts between the parliaments of
the two countries. The visit will coincide with the tabling of a bill in
the Albanian parliament for a six-month extension of the Greek military
forces' stay in the neighbouring co untry aimed at contributing in efforts
to restructure the Albanian military.
WEATHER
Local clouds in the eastern and southern parts of Greece with sunny spells
in the rest of the country. Athens will be overcast with few sunny spells
and temperatures from 4-14C. Similar weather in Thessaloniki with
temperatures between 3-13C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Friday's closing rates (buying): U.S. dollar 314.434
British pound 530.561 Japanese Yen(100) 243.219
French franc 51.552 German mark 172.737
Italian lira (100) 17.516 Irish Punt 434.000
Belgian franc 8.373 Finnish mark 56.941
Dutch guilder 153.284 Danish kr. 45.235
Austrian sch. 24.542 Spanish peseta 2.035
Swedish kr. 39.986 Norwegian kr. 41.870
Swiss franc 211.415 Port. Escudo 1.686
AUS dollar 212.149 Can. dollar 222.208
Cyprus pound 590.736
(M.P.)
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