Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] President Papoulias receives 45 children with neuromuscular disorders

[02] Gov't sets priority on property market

[03] Athens Int'l Airport earns passenger satisfaction awards

[01] President Papoulias receives 45 children with neuromuscular disorders

The president of the association, Vana Lavida, thanked President Papoulias for his immediate response to the desire of the children to meet him in person and stresssed that the first unit for children with neuromuscular disorders has been operating these past two years at the children's hospital "I AGHIA SOPHIA" and expressed the hope that a second unit will operate soon.

[02] Gov't sets priority on property market

The government has set a priority on improving the property market through changes in the law, three ministers said on Thursday.

Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, Deputy Development Minister George Salagoudis, and Deputy Finance Minister Peter Doukas were addressing a seminar of the international FIABCI real estate professionals trade group, attended by about 800 representatives of companies including Madison Marquette (USA), Comadim (France), and Mitsubishi Real Estate (Japan).

Outlining the changes to Athens over the decade before the Athens 2004 Olympics, Avramopoulos noted that the conference marked the start of a new era in alliances between real estate firms from home and abroad.

Salagoudis noted that growth of the property market would be strengthened by the government's town planning framework, ensuring competitiveness of the system, social justice, protection of the environment, and quality of residential areas; and the package of measures will become law within a year.

Doukas called on companies from abroad to work with their Greek counterparts, forecasting major growth of the domestic market.

[03] Athens Int'l Airport earns passenger satisfaction awards

A joint initiative of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Airports Council International (ACI), AETRA is the world's leading annual airport benchmarking programme for passenger satisfaction.

For the year 2004, when Athens hosted the Olympic Games, Athens International Airport received the following distinctions: