Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-06-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] IOC Coordinating Committee official sees progress in Athens 2004

[02] Ecumenical patriarch and pope to sign Venice Commitment

[03] Ecumenical patriarch visits Saint Apolinarios basilica

[04] President Stephanopoulos arrives in New Zealand

[05] ND leader arrives in Toronto

[01] IOC Coordinating Committee official sees progress in Athens 2004 preparations

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordinating Committee President Denis Oswald said only the past six months great progress has been achieved in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games preparations, both on the part of the government and that of the Organising Committee.

Oswald, who was speaking in an interview with the ''Athens 04'' magazine, the official publication of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games Organising Committee, said he does not like being called a judge or supervisor of Olympic preparation but an ''associate.''

''The timetable is still very pressing and I believe that we must never be satisfied, there is always ground for improvement,'' Oswald added.

He also believes that the 2004 Olympic Games ''will affect both the future of Greece and that of the Olympic Movement'', adding that he will be pleased ''only when the athletes, the spectators and all the rest leave Greece satisfied in August 2004.''

On the issue of security measures for tthe 2004 Games the IOC official said ''our experts team approves the planning made by the Greek government, which has cooperated with other governments that have at their disposal specialists on main security issues''.

Oswald further stressed that ''Olympic traditions and ceremonies, many of which were developed in Ancient Greece, help the Olympic Movement considerably in disseminating the message for peace all over the world. They show that peoples can brush their differences aside and cooperate.''

In an article in the same magazine, Education Minister Petros Efthymiou says the Olympic Games, returning to their birthplace, should be unique Games.

Efthymiou says the education ministry is participating in this great effort to promote the unique Olympic Games with the Olympic Education programme.

[02] Ecumenical patriarch and pope to sign Venice Commitment

Eccumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and Pope John Paul II will on Monday jointly sign the ''Venice Commitment'' on new ecological ethics, while a concert of Byzantine music will be held at Saint Mark's basilica, in Venice.

Vartholomeos, along with other dignitaries and specialists, is currently participating in an Ecology Conference organized by the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate and focusing on the protection of the Adriatic Sea's environment.

This 4th conference of its kind is being organised upon a ship which departed from Dures, Albania, last week and is due to end at Venice, on Monday after stopping in all major coast cities of Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.

Albania's Archbishop Anastasios also participates in the ''floating'' conference.

During the last day of the conference on Monday, Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos will speak of the relation between ecological theology and ecological policy.

On Tuesday morning the Ecumenical Patriarch and Venizelos will inaugurate the exhibition organised in Venice by the Greek Institute and the Byzantine Culture Museum of Thessaloniki on ''The Byzantium through the eyes of a collector.''

[03] Ecumenical patriarch visits Saint Apolinarios basilica

RAVENA (ANA - A. Kourkoulas) - Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania Anastasios officiated together at the Saint Apolinarios basilica on Sunday.

The congregation, composed of Orthodox pilgrims and Catholics, who visited the historic basilica to watch the Orthodox service, listened to the ecumenical patriarch and the Orthodox clergymen with emotion.

The service was also attended by Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, while the congregation included many Greek intellectuals and members of the Greek Institute of Venice.

The Catholic archbishop of Ravena and cardinals from the Vatican watched the service with hundreds of Catholic faithful, which the Archdiocese of Ravena had translated into Italian and had distributed among the congregation to enable it to follow the service which was being conducted primarily in Greek.

Patriarch Vartholomeos addressed the congregation in Greek and Italian, thanking the Catholic hierarchy for the love with which they hosted the Orthodox service at Saint Apolinarios.

Saint Apolinarios is a basilica of the 5th century B.C., adorned with unique mosaics, which was an important centre of the first Christian centuries.

[04] President Stephanopoulos arrives in New Zealand

WELLINGTON (ANA - N. Megadoukas) - President Kostis Stephanopoulos, addressing Greek expatriates on Sunday, said a part of Greece is living, thriving and walking in peace in New Zealand.

The president began his three-day official visit to Wellington in the afternoon, the first to be made by a head of the Greek state, and is aimed at strengthening relations between Greece and New Zealand and restoring ties between Greece and the 4,500 expatriates in New Zealand.

He referred to progress achieved in the economic sector in Greece and also to problems existing in the country's effort to approach the developed countries of Europe.

On the question of relations with Turkey, President Stephanopoulos said differences with the neighbouring country have not been resolved and clarified that Greece does not provoke Ankara since it is a country which wants peace.

He also referred to relations with the country's Balkan neighbours, noting excellent relations existing with Bulgaria and Romania.

President Stephanopoulos, commenting on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), said that ''in no way can it be named 'Macedonia''' and reminded that ''we have proposed an intermediate name as a solution which shall not allow confusion to take place with our Macedonia.''

President Stephanopoulos arrived in Wellington from Sydney, Australia, and was received by New Zealand's General Governor. He is also due to meet the prime minister and the main opposition party leader.

[05] ND leader arrives in Toronto

MONTREAL (ANA - I. Frangouli) - Main opposition New Democracy party leader Costas Karamanlis arrived in Toronto on Sunday on a brief visit, accompanied by a party delegation.

Karamanlis is due to visit the church of Saint Dimitrios and hold talks with the Metropolitan Community of Toronto's board and representatives of the Greek-Canadian Congress and the Greek-Canadian Federation.

He will also have contacts with the Panmacedonian Union and ND's local organisation and address a meeting of expatriate Greeks at the Greek Community Centre before leaving for Washington.

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