Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] Debt settlement a prerequisite for recovery, BoG governor Stournaras says

[02] Greece sends 20 artifacts for Getty exhibition "Egypt-Greece-Rome: Cultures in Contact" in LA

[03] Greece has implemented a "huge, unprecedented" reform programme, Costello says

[04] Ionia Odos will benefit Greece's productive activities, Transport Min Spirtzis says

[05] Ariadne Airport Group wins contract for Kastelli airport

[01] Debt settlement a prerequisite for recovery, BoG governor Stournaras says

Stournaras was addressing on Wednesday an Economist conference held in Frankfurt.

"It is a unique progress without precedent in Europe and OECD," he said noting however that many things remain to be done and that the high debt and the high unemployment rate are problems that hamper the Greek economy.

In his speech that mostly focused on Greece's return to the markets, Stournaras underlined the need for the debt settlement as a prerequisite for the recovery.

He presented settlement proposals based on the 3.5 pct primary surplus target until 2020 and then reduced to 2.0 pct. According to this proposal which aims to render the debt sustainable, measures should be taken such as the suspension of the interest rates' payment, the extension of loan maturity and the return of the European banks' profits from the Greek bonds (SNF and ANFA).

As he noted, this is the least the Greek debt needs to become sustainable. Concluding, Stournaras explained that the facilities in the loan interests payment is a much more effective method for the debt reduction than the increase of primary surpluses.

[02] Greece sends 20 artifacts for Getty exhibition "Egypt-Greece-Rome: Cultures in Contact" in LA

The largest museums of the world will lend approximately 200 artifacts for the exhibition "Egypt-Greece-Rome: Cultures in Contact", which examines the relations that developed among the civilisations from the Late Bronze Age to the post Roman era with focus on Egypt.

Greece was asked to lend 25 antiquities and the Central Archaeological Council agreed to offer 20 of them. The five antiquities that will be not sent to the United States are very fragile or emblematic works as the marble statue of Antinoos from Marathon that belongs to the National Archaeological Museum's Egyptian Collection.

The exhibition at Getty is part of cooperation memorandum signed in 2011 between the Getty Museum and the Greek Ministry of Culture

[03] Greece has implemented a "huge, unprecedented" reform programme, Costello says

He said that about 120 of the 140 prior actions of this programme review have already been met, adding that the remaining ones are expected to be completed in the next 10 days so that Greece receives the next loan tranche.

Therefore, he stressed that Greece is no longer facing a fiscal problem, adding that the Commission estimates that there is no need to take any further measures and that priority is now given "to help Greece regain access to the markets."

However, he pointed out that the benefits from the implementation of the agreed reforms will be visible in the coming period.

On his part, the governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, who participated in the panel, stressed that the debt can be reduced more effectively through privatisations than through high primary surpluses that have "social cost."

With regard to debt, the representative of the European Stability Mechanism Nicola Giamarolli stressed that Greece already received a significant debt relief in 2012 through the PSI. Giamarolli added that the lending conditions from the ESM are very favourable, and short-term debt measures are already in place, while there is also some clarity about medium-term measures.

"Greece's partners are committed to providing support in the long-term. This is proved by previous debt relief efforts and the possible future ones," he stated.

[04] Ionia Odos will benefit Greece's productive activities, Transport Min Spirtzis says

This particular project, which basically links Antirrio with Ioannina, changes the traffic map across the country as, according to the minister, "if one wants to move from the port of Patras to Thessaloniki, the route is much easier and it takes less time."

Spirtzis underlined that this will benefit Greece's productive activities of the country, because the improvement of the road network does not only help the transport of citizens but it also has multiple benefits for the productive activity.

The minister also noted that the remaining small section for the completion of the motorway will be ready before August.

[05] Ariadne Airport Group wins contract for Kastelli airport

Ariadne Airport Group is a joint venture by Terna SA and GMR Airports Group.

In comments made, Spirtzis said the project paved the way for large third generation projects in the country and was a vote of confidence in the national economy and the country.

"The investment in Kastelli is made with safeguarding public interest and local societies, under transparency and efficiency regulations. The Greek state acquires a significant asset: It drastically raises its equity participation in the company that will build and operate the new airport," the Greek minister said.

The airport investment is budgeted at more than 850 million euros, of which 180 million will be state funds. The state will also collect a 2.0 pct of gross revenue of the airport, while the project will create 1,000 job positions during construction, 500 permanent job positions during operations and hundreds of new jobs from new commercial infrastructure.

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