The EU informal Summit opened today in Majorca, Spain with main topic of discussion the 1996 Inter Governmental Conference and Greece is represented by Prime Minister mr Andreas Papandreou.
Spanish Prime Minister and President of the European Council, Fellipe Gonzales officially welcomed this morning the european leaders and after the 2-day informal Summit is concluded they will give a press conference to present its outcome.
Prime Minister Papandreou will return to Greece on Sunday and will visit the Aegean island of Patmos in order to attend the celebrations for the 1.900 years since the writing of the Book of Revelation by Saint John.
Impressive were the results of the revolutionary method for the treatment of multiple sclerosis used for the first time in the world on two patients in Thessaloniki's Papanicolaou Hospital.
The new method is based on the transplant of blood cells which are taken either from the patients themselves or from relatives of theirs and before they are re transplanted to the patients, they are kept in liquid nitrogen.
The transplant operations were made four months ago and the condition of the two patients is described as satisfactory. Both were suffering for years from the disease that affects the central nervous system and as a result they were partially paralyzed.
Cypriot government spokesman Yiannakis Kasoulidis stated that the government had no official information that a meeting will be held between US President Clinton and cypriot President Kliridis in New York on October 20th.
The statement was made in response to a cypriot television report according to which a Clinton-Kliridis meeting will be held in New York on October 20th on the sidelines of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.
Mr. Kasoulidis stated that for the moment the cypriot government has no official or unofficial information concerning the time of the meeting between Presidents Clinton and Kliridis.
Responding to the question made by a reporter on what will be the usefulness of a Clinton-Kliridis meeting after the recent developments in Turkey, mr.Kasoulidis stated that there is no doubt the meeting between the two Presidents will be especially useful regardless of any other events.
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos officially opened today an international ecological seminar underlining the interest of the Orthodox Church in the protection of the environment. The meeting sponsored by the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Phillip, President of the World Wildlife Fund will take place on the ship "Prevelli" which left from Istanbul today and will make the voyage to Ephesus where the guests will visit Saint John's burial site.
Metropolitan of Pergamos has the presidency of the meeting and the honourary committee includes US Vice President Albert Gore, UN Secretary General Boutros Ghali, European Commission President Jacques Santer, Prince Sandrudin Aga Khan, Russian Science Academy Vice President Yevgeni Velikhon, Patriarch of Alexandria Parthenios, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Roger Etchergary, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, turkish ecological organization TURMEPA President Rahmi Koc and greek poet Odysseas Elytis.
In the meeting participate Orthodox Church Archbishops or their representatives except from the Moscow Patriarch who announced last month that he will not attend the meeting invoking his differencies with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the "Estonian" issue and the issue of the Ukrainians of the diaspora. The Moscow Patriarch refused to change his mind despite appeals from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople to attend the meeting.
The international ecological seminar is taking place in the framework of the celebrations marking the 1.900th anniversary of the writing of the Book of Revelation by Saint John.
Greek Defense Minister Gerasimos Arsenis referred to the course of the greek-turkish relations stressing that their improvement depends on Ankara's behaviour. Mr.Arsenis stated after the end of the military manouvres under the name "Parmenion '95", which took place in the region of Evros and the islands of eastern Aegean, that Greece respects the international conventions and the international law.
He also underlined that turkish fighter jets and warships violate the greek air-space and territorial waters almost on a daily basis.
The Greek Defense Minister stated that Turkey must respect the international conventions and should behave according to the terms set by international law while it should too create better conditions for stability in the region.
Greek Press and Media Vice Minister and government spokesman Nikos Athanasakis stated that the greek government condemns the incidents that took place yesterday in the Ionian Sea island of Corfu between US Navy sailors and local residents who were expressing their opposition to the presence of US Navy ships on the island.
Mr.Athanasakis also added that the US warships are legally lying in port in Corfu and stressed that the greek citizens are free to protest in the framework of the law while concluded by saying that an investigation is under way concerning the incidents.
The greek fuel company ECO recently established the joint venture "EKO-Georgia" in Tblisi, capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where they will operate a network of liquid fuel stations.
The trade deal, the first one ever concluded by greeks and georgians was signed on September 15th in Tblisi by EKO which holds 51% of the shares in "EKO Georgia" and by georgian state company SAKNAFTOPRODUKTI which together with local businessmen hold 49% of the shares.