Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-06-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] 'Greek programme going better than reported'

[02] Rhodes tourist arrivals up

[01] 'Greek programme going better than reported'

Speaking only hours after the Greek government said it successfully concluded talks in Athens with representatives of the EC-ECB-IMF "troika" over approval of the fifth tranche of the bailout, Poul Thomsen nevertheless added that much remains to be done. ana-mpa

Thomsen, the International Monetary Fund's deputy director of its European department and the IMF mission chief for Greece, underlined that a decisive effort is now needed by the Greek government to combat pervasive tax evasion in the country.

The high-profile IMF executive spoke at a panel discussion entitled "The Greek Economy After One Year of Reform: Progress and Challenges", hosted by the St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, Md.ana-mpa

In other statements, Thomsen said the Memorandum signed one year ago with the Greek government is now changing, as conditions have changed, while he emphasised that similar restructuring programmes often experience problems during their implementation. "... they are overcome though when there is devotion to the targets," he added.ana-mpa

More ominously, he emphasised that without the EC-ECB-IMF support package Greece would have collapsed, economically.

Other speakers at the event, sponsored by the Hellenic Society Prometheus, included Irene Ninetta Kyriakopoulos, a professor at the National Defense University; Thanos Catsambas, a former assistant director of the fiscal affairs department at the IMF, as well as moderator Evangelos Calamitsis, a former director of the IMF's African department.

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[02] Rhodes tourist arrivals up

According to the figures, a total of 210,273 tourists arrived on the island last month, with charter flights and with scheduled flights by foreign airlines, while during the same month last year 180,263 tourists had visited the island.

Tourists from Germany continue to be in first place, followed by English, Swedish, Russian, French, Italian, Finnish, Dutch and Belgian tourists.

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