MPA NEWS IN ENGLISH (03/04/1996)

From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>

Macedonian Press Agency News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Wednesday, April 4 1996

TITLES

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] U.S. TRADE DEPARTMENT SECRETARY'S PLANE CRASHES IN BOSNIA, DETAILS UNKNOWN

The airplane carrying Ron Brown, Secretary of the United States Department of Trade crashed during a flight from Bosnia to Croatia today.

While the wreckage of the aircraft has been found, the Secretary's fate is unknown, according to Janet Reno, U.S. Justice Department Secretary.

"The aircraft carrying Ron Brown fell in Bosnia," stated Reno and added that "the wreckage has been discovered and the search is being continued. I believe that we should all pray now."

[02] GREEK-AMERICANS GET READY FOR SIMITIS

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis' impending visit with United States President Bill Clinton on April 9, will be highlighted with festivities given in his honor by the leadership of prominent greek-american organizations.

Honoring the Premier's first visit to the U.S., various events are being organized by the International Council of Greeks Abroad, the American Council of Greeks Abroad, AHEPA, the United Hellenic American Congress, the Western Policy Center, the International Coordinated Commission of the Cypriot Struggle, the American Hellenic Institute and the National Coordinated Effort.

In his travel to the U.S. Mr. Simitis will be accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Pangalos, National Economy Yiannos Papantoniou, Press and Media Dimitris Reppas, and, possibly, Education George Papandreou.

The greek-american community leaders and the ministers will discuss national interest issues as well as the spectrum of bilateral relations between Greece-U.S.

The Prime Minister and his delegation will arrive in Washington late on Sunday evening and will remain at the U.S. capital until Wednesday morning when they will travel to New York. While there, Mr. Simitis will address the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce and in the evening will attend a function in Astoria.

On Thursday, the Premier will travel to Connecticut, where he will give a speech at Yale University. On Friday, Mr. Simitis will meet with the U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Ghali and perhaps with the special envoy for the FYROM name issue, Cyrus Vance. He will also meet with the Archbishop of North and South America Iakovos and will visit the Council on Foreign Relations.

[03] THE GREEK MINISTER OF DEFENSE DOES NOT EXPRESS A POLICY DIFFERENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT'S, STATED MR.REPPAS

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas responding to questions concerning the statements made by the Minister of Defense, according to which the turkish expansionism can not be countered with lukewarm reactions, stated that mr.Arsenis does not express a policy different from the one followed by the government.

Mr.Reppas added that mr.Arsenis referred to the period 1960- 1962 when the then greek government appealed only to UNESCO in order to stop the uprooting of greeks fom the islands of Imvros and Tenedos.

The greek government spokesman stated that none disagrees with mr.Arsenis' statement that Ankara's expansionist policy must be countered with strong armed forces and characterized as unfounded the accusations launched by turkish officials against the greek Minister of Defense. The greek government spokesman concluded that if Turkey believes there is a legal problem should appeal to the International Court in The Hague.

Mr.Reppas stated that Greece has proven with deeds that it respects the rules that must be the basis for a normalization of the greek-turkish relations and he expressed the position that the climate of tensions and frictions in the relations between Greece and Turkey must change.

The greek government spokesman called Turkey to sign the document of the 15 EU member states for the progress of its customs union with the EU, to assist in the efforts for a just solution to the Cyprus problem and to withdraw its threats launched against Greece in case it decides to expand its territorial waters. Also, mr.Reppas called Turkey to stop the violations of the greek air-space and to formally state that it has no territorial claims against Greece.

[04] WE SHOULD AVOID THE TENSION THAT LEADS TO BLOODSHED AND WAR, STATED MR.PANGALOS

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos reiterated his recent statements, according to which, tension that leads to bloodshed and war must be avoided.

Mr.Pangalos said that, "we should be sparing of the blood of young greeks and we should do everything possible in order to avoid bloodshed and war".

The statement made by mr.Pangalos is in response to the statements made by Defense Minister Gerasimos Arsenis, who had stressed that the turkish expansionism must not be faced with lukewarm reactions and that the creation of a strong deterrent force within the framework of the armed forces is necessary.

Politicians are re-elected, journalists are re-hired, prestige is restored but the dead do not come back to life, stated characteristically mr.Pangalos who supported the implementation of the Dayton peace accord which resulted, as he said, after an agreement among the involved parties in former Yugoslavia, the european countries, the United States and Russia.

[05] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE IGC TO BE HELD IN ATHENS TOMORROW

The European Union's future and potential, as they are outlined after the recently-held Intergovernmental Conference in Turin, will be at center stage of an international two-day meeting commencing in Athens tomorrow.

Held in the Foreign Ministry's aphitheater, the annual International Conference of Foreign Policy will address the topic "The Intergovernmental Conference of 1996 and its Meaning for the Future of the European Union."

The Conference is taking place in cooperation with representatives from the European Commission.

Among the topics that wil be examined wil be the Foreign Ministers council and its decision making process, the weaknesses of the EU's Common Foreign Policy and Political Security, NATO's role in the european security system and the potential of institutional embodiment of the Western European Union in the structure of the Community.

[06] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN ATHENS TOMORROW

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski is scheduled to arrive in Athens tomorrow for talks with his greek counterpart Theodoros Pangalos.

According to reports, the two Ministers will discuss bilateral relations, the proposed Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and a meeting of Balkan foreign ministers, which is being promoted by Sofia and is tentatively scheduled for mid-June.

[07] SWEDISH OFFICIALS ARE VISITING THE NORTHERN GREEK CITY OF DRAMA

Stockholm's mayor, Sweden's Socialist Party Secretary General and other swedish officials are visiting the city of Drama in northern Greece to discuss economic and cultural issues with local authorities.

Already, the swedish officials have met with the Prefect of Drama who briefed them on economic and cultural issues.

The Swedish officials are interested mainly in importing marble, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, while they also presented proposals for the creation of joint businesses in the industry sector. They are also interested in promoting certian swedish products in Greece.

[08] BRITISH MINISTER FOR EUROPEAN MARKET AFFAIRS TO VISIT ATHENS

Britain's Minister for European Market Affairs, Roger Freeman, is scheduled to arrive in Greece on April 8, as part of his tour of European Union capitals.

The British Minister will meet with Development Minister Vasso Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister George Romeos, as well as with the President of the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV) Iasonas Stratos and various businessmen.

The British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce will host a luncheon in Mr. Freeman's honor the same day in Athens.

[09] CANADIAN TRADE MINISTER TO VISIT ATHENS AND THESSALONIKI

Canada's International Trade Minister Art Eggleton is scheduled to visit Thessaloniki on April 8-9 where he will announce the appointment of Canada's new honorary consul, while in Athens he will participate in the inauguration of the Canadian- Hellenic Chamber of Commerce.

During his two day stay in Greece, Mr. Eggleton will meet with various ministers and businessmen in an effort to develop Canada's economic and trade relations with the European Union.

The Canadian Minister's visit to Greece is part of a "transatlantic dialogue" between Canada and the EU, within the framework of establishing an action plan on all aspects of the Canada-EU relationship.

[10] OLYMPIC FLAME TO PASS THROUGH THESSALONIKI ON FRIDAY

The Olympic Flame will pass through Thessaloniki on Friday night and the town's municipal officials are preparing a grand reception ceremony in front of the city's historic landmark White Tower.

The Flame will arrive at the city's outskirts on Gallikos River, at 7:30 pm, from where distinguished athletes from Thessaloniki will carry it to the center of town.

The previous-to-last kilometer of the distance will be run by athletes will special needs.

[11] NONE SHOULD FOLLOW A POLICY THAT LEADS TO THE WEARING OFF OF INSTITUTIONS, STATED MS.CILLER

Former turkish Prime Minister and leader of the True Path Party (DYP) ms.Tansu Ciller indirectly referring to the revelations by turkish newspaper "Milliyet" on the concealment of important italian documents which clearly showed that the Imia islet belongs to Greece, stated that none should follow a policy that leads to the wearing off of institutions.

Ms.Ciller stated that "from the beginning we had stressed that if there were documents proving that this islet belonged to Greece they must be presented immediately and we are ready to resolve this problem through dialogue" adding that "this was the policy of my government and the policy of mr.Yilmaz's government".

[12] PROPOSAL FOR INTER-BALKAN MEETING OF DEFENSE MINISTERS TO BE HELD THIS FALL IN SOFIA

Bulgarian Defense Minister mr.Pavlov proposed the holding of an inter-balkan meeting of Defense Ministers in Sofia next Fall.

The proposal was made during the meeting held recently in Tirana in which participated the Defense Ministers from the United States, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania and FYROM.

According to the newspaper "Trud", in the inter-balkan meeting proposed by mr.Pavlov will be invited to participate and the Defense Ministers from the United States and Russia, as well as, representatives of the European Union and the Organization for the Development and Cooperation in Europe.

Based on the newspaper report, the proposal has been accepted in principle by Greece, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Russia, while US Secretary of Defense William Perry welcomed the bulgarian initiative.

The first Inter-Balkan meeting of Foreign Ministers will be held in Sofia next June and a preparatory meeting at Ministry Directors level has already been held.

[13] THE US WILL HELP SOLVE THE CYPRUS ISSUE THIS YEAR

A U.S. State Department official denied today reports according to which the United States are favoring equal representation of greek-cypriots and turk-cypriots in a federated government in Cyprus, stemming from a solution that would be mutually agreed upon.

The official, who requested anonymity, stated that while the reports are attributed to the U.S., it is not mentioned who made the statements and denied that the statements were made.

Referring to the issue of the american initiative to solve the Cyprus problem during 1996, the State Department official stated that "we can expect that this effort will materialize this year."

[14] BRITISH PMS DENOUNCE TURKISH OCCUPATION OF CYPRUS

Thirty British Labour Party parliamentarians have presented the House of Commons with a resolution plan for the condemnation of the turkish occupation of Cyprus and the recently-made statements by the Turk-cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

The British MPs expressed their abhorrence for Denktash's "wicked", as they characterized it, statement that all the missing Cypriots have been killed by turkish paramilitary groups.

Through the resolution, the parliamentarians expressed their sorrow for the continuous, illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus by turkish forces.

Moreover, they point out the comments made by UN Secretary- General Boutros Ghali, according to whom the fact that the Cyprus problem remains unsolved is due to the lack of turkish political initiative.

According to the resolution, the PMs state that the concealment of information regarding the missing persons, 20 years after the invasion, constitutes a disgrace.

[15] HEAD OF GREEK LIAISON OFFICE MET WITH FYROM OFFICIAL

The head of the Greek Liaison Office in Skopje Alexandros Mallias met with the President of FYROM's Parliamentary Commission of International Relations Irena Mitreva yesterday.

According to FYROM's Press Secretariat, the talks illustrated the positive trend towards the development of bilateral relations in the areas of economy and trade, which also affect the political relations.

[16] GERMAN DIPLOMACY HAS FAILED IN THE BALKANS, SAID DER SPIEGEL

German diplomacy was unsuccessful in the Balkans due to the Bonn policy's lack of a clear concept on the situation in the area even in 1991, since the recognition of Slovenia and Croatia, the german magazine Der Spiegel said Monday.

Germany should have known that a Balkan policy hostile to the Serbs would be in vain and that the biggest southern Slav nation could not be isolated. Seting out the reasons for former and current foreign ministers' (Hans Dietrich Gensher and Klaus Kinkel) disorientation in the Balkans, Der Spiegel said that they did not have a single advisor for the region and their direct contacts with the real situation were unproductive.

Klaus Kinkel was chagrined by the Croat avoidance of ensuring civil rights for the Serbs in Croatia as the president Franjo Tudjman had first promised to Gensher. Since the civil war broke out in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Chancellor Helmut Kohl never traveled to the crisis areas in the Balkans and Klaus Kinkel briefly visited Sarajevo, Zagreb and Mostar, but was not very successful, Der Spiegel said in its commentary.

[17] SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC MET U.N. ADMINISTRATOR FOR SREM-BARANJA SECTOR

President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic and the United Nations Administrator for the Srem-Baranja Region Jacques Klein assessed that it was necessary to secure the consistant implementation of the November 1995 Serbo-Croat agreement for this region, the Serbian presidential office said in an announcement after the meeting in Belgrade on Monday.

Both the Serbian President and the U.N. Administrator were optimistic with the developments in that region. Their meeting on the situation in the area was very successful, Klein said in a press-conference.

All interested parties, including the Yugoslav and Croatian governments, have decided to back up the process for a peaceful settlement of the situation in the region, Klein said. Urging the population not to leave the area, Klein reminded that the major objective of the UN peace efforts was to protect peoples' lives, their dignity and prosperity. He said they had nothing to fear since the UN administration had 5,000 troops, tanks, helicopters under its control.

"Before we leave we shall set up a local government with an adequate representation of the local population," Klein said. He added that there is capital intended to be invest in this region, but the situation should first be totally stable before investments begin.

[18] UN FINDS FIVE COMMON GRAVES IN SARAJEVO SUBURBS

The detection of five graves in Hadzic containing at least 20 dead bodies was reported by international police on March 29. Although this was not the first, it was certainly the largest to date of such finds in the area, police spokesman Alexander Ivanko said. Among the five graves discovered, the biggest one contained at least ten corpses.

As the area returned to the B-H government control, and with the aid of spring weather, investigators have started to search for evidence of Serb atrocities against their Muslim and Croat neighbors since the begining of the four-year war. The government authorities decided to persist with such investigations saying that no lasting peace is possible until the full truth is known.

Meanwhile in Mrkonjic Grad, Bosnian Serbs have exhumed 28 corpses from a common grave in the presence of the international observers. The investigation continues.

[19] U.N. TROOPS WILL ASSIST IN WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION

IFOR commander U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith said that for the first time his troops will assist in war crimes investigation by providing security and other aid to an international team in the Srebrenica area, news agencies reported.

The investigators from the Hague arrived in Bosnia to inspect 12 renowned regions of war crimes. BBC has hailed this court's initiative as a "politically most sensitive mission up to date".

In Banja Luka, a Bosnian Serb military court sentenced to death a Croat who was involved in 80 Serbs death in the contested Posavina region. The Hague Tribunal for war crimes could only hope but not insist for his transfer to the Duch city for investigation, a spokesman told the BBC.

On April 1, for the first time since the Hague Tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia has been set up, an indicted war criminal the Bosnian Croat Gen. Tihomir Blaskic surrendered himself to the Tribunal.

Zagreb had been hard pressed by Washington to give countenance to the court's work, acting upon the Dayton agreement specifications.

[20] DIALOGUE BETWEEN ROMANIA AND NATO

Romanian suggestion to start an individualized dialogue with the North-Atlantic Alliance has been promoted to the NATO's Secretariat by Romania's permanent representative, Constantin Ene, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sorin Ducaru announced. He stated at a news conference that the suggestions were worked out following the document approved by the Romania's Supreme Council for Defense.

Romania's position will be presented by NATO to the 16 member states. They will look at the questions presented from all sides and based on their conclusions the individualized dialogue between NATO and Romania will be started. After The Czech Republic and Slovakia, Romania is the third country which forwarded suggestions on individual dialogue with NATO, Romanian National News Agency Rompres said.

[21] ANOTHER STAGE OF THE MASS PRIVATIZATION PROCESS IN ROMANIA ENDED

The subscription of the nominal privatization coupons - first stage of the mass privatization process in Romania - ended on Sunday night. The president of the Commision for Economic Strategy, Coordination and Reform of Romania's Government Mircea Cosea said that 12.526.699 coupons were filed by the population which represent 74,8% of those who deposited their coupons at almost 4.000 state-funded enterprises. Among these coupons 85,72% were subscribed to commercial companies and 14% to the Private Ownership Funds.

"I refrain from using the word 'success' but I declare myself satisfied and consider this stage to be an achievement, the distribution of the coupons and the subscription having unfolded in accordance with the realities of today's Romania," specified Cosea.

The capital market can start operating now, as a level beyond 60% was reached, underlined the Romanian Minister adding that US Agency for Industrial Development which assists the privatisation process will provide funds for a $15 million program aimed to set up a mechanism for the purchase, registration and regulation of the share market in Romania, Romanian News Agency Rador reported.

The second stage of the privatisation process will end on April 30, and will involve deposit coupons at Private Ownership Funds.

[22] FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE REPORT

CURRENCY          FIXING      BUY         SELL
ECU              302.8020   301.8940    303.7100
U.S. Dollar      240.7700   240.0480    241.4920
Deutsche Mark    162.6640   162.1760    163.1520
UK Sterling      367.6800   366.5770    368.7830
French Franc      47.7260    47.5830     47.8690
Swedish Crown     36.0900    35.9820     36.1980
Danish Kroner     42.1720    42.0450     42.2990
Norwegian Crown   37.5680    37.4550     37.6810
Italian Lira      15.3815    15.3350     15.4280
Swiss Franc      201.9800   201.3740    202.5860
Spanish Peseta     1.9374     1.9316      1.9432
Finnish Mark      52.0670    51.9110     52.2230
Yen              224.5200   223.8460    225.1940