Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-05-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] Farm issues dominate PM's contacts on Wednesday

[02] May Day observed with rallies, holiday excursions

[03] UN chief lauds Athens' SC tenure

[01] Farm issues dominate PM's contacts on Wednesday

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday met at his Maximos Mansion office with Agriculture Development Minister Evangelos Basiakis and Deputy Minister Alexandros Kontos. Meanwhile, .the premier spent May Day a day earlier on the remote eastern Aegean island of Kasos, where he arrived with a Hellenic Navy gunboat named after the isle.

Karamanlis called the country's islands a "precious national capital", and pledged that his government will place even greater weight on solving the problems they face, addressing a meeting of local officials and government members on the island of Kasos, which he visited on May Day, and was declared an honourary resident of the island.

The premier arrived on Kasos after a 14-hour overnight sail aboard the vessel, accompanied by Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis.

Shortly after his arrival, the premier chaired a meeting at the Kasos town hall, where he was briefed on the local issues and pledged that his government would contribute in every possible way to solving them.

The meeting was attended by Meimarakis, the minister for the Aegean and island policy Aristotelis Pavlidis, and Deputy FM Yannis Valinakis, among others.

After the meeting, Karamanlis was declared an honourary resident of Kasos. Karamanlis later left for the island of Rhodes, from where he would return to Athens.

During a visit to Kasos in 1999, Karamanlis, as main opposition leader at the time, had promised that a navy vessel would be named after the island. Six years later, as prime minister, he arrived on a gunboat that was christend "Kasos" in 2005.

Caption: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis (R) on the bridge of the gunboat "Kasos" with Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis (L) on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. ANA-MPA / G. Antoniou.

[02] May Day observed with rallies, holiday excursions

In Thessaloniki, no less than three separate rallies were held, one organised jointly by the Thessaloniki Labour Centre and the Union of Civil Servants' Organisations, a second organised by PAME, and a third organised by a bevy of out-of-Parliament leftist groups.

The annual May Day commemoration was accompanied by a holiday throughout Greece's public and private sectors, whereas hundreds of thousands of urban dwellers had earlier left for extended weekend excursions or day trips in the country side, as May Day is also marked by the opening of flower shows throughout the country and a traditional rite of creating a floral wreath for the family home.

Caption: A child lays a flower at a monument dedicated to the anonymous worker in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. ANA-MPA / MEGAPRESS / G. FOTIADIS.

[03] UN chief lauds Athens' SC tenure

He further praised Athens' successful chairing two sanctions committees -- Ivory Coast and Sudan-- as well as the informal working group on general issues of sanctions during its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, stressing that effective implementation of SC sanctions could avert blood-shed.

The symposium, organised by the Greek permanent delegation to the UN in cooperation with Notre Dame University's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, was also addressed by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, diplomats, academics, and personalities known for their contribution to improving the efficacy of the Security Council sanctions, including George Lopez, David Cortright and Peter Wallensteen.

Caption: A file photo of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. ANA-MPA / O. PANAGIOTOU.

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