Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-10-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM's international contacts in view of Greek EU presidency

[02] ATHOC to provide immediate access to information on 2004 Olympic Games

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Tuesday

[05] Greek stocks end Monday's session flat

[01] PM's international contacts in view of Greek EU presidency

Prime Minister Costas Simitis will be having a series of meetings with foreign leaders before the end of the year to prepare for the Greek EU presidency, especially for issues concerning European enlargement and Cyprus' EU accession, government spokesman Christos Protopapas announced on Monday.

The spokesman noted that problems might arise in relation to Cyprus' EU accession in particular, and the Greek government was taking action to pre-empt these.

''...we need to prepare properly for the crucial moment and work so that we can effectively deal with anything that might happen because, as is well known, there are many sources of uncertainty at this time,'' he stressed.

First among the prime minister's scheduled contacts abroad is a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London on October 28, while Simitis will also be meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder between November 5 and 10.

On November 14-15, Simitis is due in Warsaw for a European Socialist Party (ESP) meeting and on November 20-23 he is to visit Prague to attend the NATO leaders' summit.

On November 30, the Greek premier will receive his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar in Athens and three days later on December 3, he is to receive a visit from Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen.

On December 6, Simitis is due in Rome for a meeting with Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and on December 9 he will receive European Parliament president Pat Cox in Athens.

Finally, on December 11, the Greek premier will depart for Copenhagen for the final EU summit under the Danish presidency.

[02] ATHOC to provide immediate access to information on 2004 Olympic Games

Selected groups of users of advanced high-tech services will have immediate access to a range of information which will be provided by the Athens 2004 Olympic Organising Committee (ATHOC), through the wireless portal network which will be developed and offered for the first time in the Olympic Games in Athens.

The users will be able to have access to information which they immediately want, such as on the development of a specific event or the performance of a specific athlete, changes in the programme, traffic and urgent announcements.

The advanced technology services are being jointly developed by the componanies-sponsors of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Samsung and Cosmote.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.982

Pound sterling 0.635

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.140

Japanese yen 122.5

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.457

Cyprus pound 0.576

Canadian dollar 1.542

Australian dollar 1.775

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Tuesday

Sunny weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with scattered cloud in the north and west. Early morning mist is expected. Winds variable, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 09C to 24C; on the rest of the mainland from 13C to 26C; and in the islands from 15C to 25C. Temperatures in Athens between 14C and 25C; and in Thessaloniki from 10C to 23C.

[05] Greek stocks end Monday's session flat

Greek stocks ended flat the first trading session of the week, reflecting lack of fresh incentives and directions in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index eased 0.01 percent to end at 1,819.54 points, with turnover a record-low 47.6 million euros.

The Insurance sector soared 8.92 percent, while the Retail and Food-Beverage sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.63 percent and 1.14 percent, respectively), while the Holding, Investment and Bank sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (2.22 percent, 1.05 percent and 0.44 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.33 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.44 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.63 percent higher.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 169 to 125 with another 61 issues unchanged at Friday's closing levels.

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