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Macedonian Press Agency News In English (96/11/04)From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>Macedonian Press Agency: News in English DirectoryMACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISHThessaloniki, November 4, 1996NEWS IN ENGLISH[A] NATIONAL NEWS[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWSTITLES[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS IN DETAIL[A] NATIONAL NEWS[01] GREEK NAVAL MISSILE CARRIER COLLIDES WITH FERRY, FOUR PERSONS MISSINGFour persons are still missing after a greek ferry boat and a greek naval missile carrier collided this evening at 6:30 in the sea region of Samos island in the Aegean Sea. The missile carrier "Kostakos" sank shortly after the impact of the collission and the four missing individuals are part of its 38-member crew. The 71 passengers of the ferry boat "Samena" are all well, although the ship underwent extensive damages. The Ministry of National Defense has not yet released information on the cause of the collission. The names of the missing persons are: Warrant officer Kanellos Kokkinis and petty officers Apostolos Asprogerakas, Vasilis Mavrogiorgos and George Andranasidakis. [02] PM DISCUSSES UPCOMING YEAR'S BUDGET WITH CABINET MEMBERSThe upcoming year's budget was at the center of discussions held today between Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and Cabinet members. In the afternoon, Mr. Simitis met Minister of Agriculture Stephanos Tzoumakas and discussed issues regarding the Agriculture Ministry's budget as well as the draft legislation regarding agricultural matters which Mr. Tzoumakas is preparing to table in Parliament. In the evening, Mr. Simitis met with the Minister and vice- minister of Labor and Social Insurance, Miltiades Papaioannou and Nikos Farmakis, respectively, and addressed the legislation concerning farmers' insurance. [03] NAT/L ECONOMY-FINANCE MINISTER MEETS WITH BANK OF GREECE GOVERNORThe Minister of National Economy and Finance Yiannos Papantoniou met with the Governor of the Bank of Greece Loukas Papademos today and discussed matters concerning the monetary union. Tomorrow, Mr. Papantoniou will meet Prime Minister Kostas Simitis in order to draw the conclusive decisions regarding the state's revenue policies. [04] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT BELIEVES THAT RELATIONS AMONG NATO MEMBERS SHOULD BE CONDITIONED BY CERTAIN RULES, STATED MR.REPPASThe greek government's position is that relations among NATO member-states must be conditioned by certain rules, stated greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas commenting on the letter sent by Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos to NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and to the Foreign Ministers of the alliance's member states. According to information, the letter includes a proposal for the establishment of mechanisms that will consolidate the alliance's aims in case of disputes between member-states, such as the greek-turkish crisis in the Aegean. Mr.Reppas stated that the greek government does not want NATO's involvement in the greek-turkish disputes but on the other hand it believes that international organizations should have mechanisms that will be able to consolidate the goals for which they had been established in the first place. The greek government spokesman added that member-states have to respect certain principles, such as the territorial integrity. [05] GREECE'S RELATIONS WITH FYROM ARE CONDITIONED BY THE 1995 INTERIM ACCORDGreece's relations with FYROM are conditioned by the 1995 interim accord stated greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas and pointed out that the major problem of the name that will be used by the neighbouring country must be handled within the framework of that accord. Mr.Reppas also speculated that it appears that after the US Presidential elections there will be a speeding-up of the procedures concerning the Cyprus and the Skopjan issues. The greek government spokesman stated that on behalf of the the greek side there is a will for cooperation. Commenting on the proposals made by US envoy mr.Shifter for cooperation, mainly of an economic nature among the Balkan countries including Turkey, mr.Reppas stated that those proposals are interesting. [06] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN STATED THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOWS A SPECIAL INTEREST IN THE SOLUTION OF THE CYPRUS PROBLEMGreek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated that the government displays a special interest in the solution of the Cyprus problem and the visit to the island by Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs mr.Christos Rozakis is placed within that framework. Mr.Reppas stated that mr.Rozakis will have contacts with the cypriot government and with all the political parties in order to get a complete picture of the issue. The greek government spokesman stated that a new era lays ahead both because of the US Presidential elections and because the time for the opening of Cyprus' EU accession negotiations is getting closer. Furthermore, he said that initiatives are expected to take place and that in any case, an increased mobilization is being observed. Mr.Reppas stated that efforts like the visit of the greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs to Nicosia are being made in order to avoid any surprises and to have a better coordination. [07] THE GREEK UNDERSECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IS ON A VISIT TO CYPRUSGreek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Christos Rozakis after his meeting with Cypriot President Glafkos Kliridis stated that his contacts in Nicosia aim at getting a complete picture of the Cyprus problem that will result in a more fruitful cooperation before the initiatives by different countries begin to be undertaken. The greek Undersecretary expressed the hope that tomorrow, when the greek delegation will complete its contacts, will have a total picture of the whole issue in order to begin studying it upon its return to Athens. [08] THE PRESIDENTS OF THE GREEK AND CYPRIOT PARLIAMENTS MET IN ATHENS TODAYThe Presidents of the greek and the cypriot Parliaments Apostolos Kaklamanis and Spyros Kyprianou in their meeting in Athens today discussed the drawing up of a common policy within the framework of the Greek-Cypriot Joint Parliament Committee. Their activities are aimed at informing the international community through the state Parliaments, the Euro-Parliament and other international organizations on issues concerning hellenism. Mr.Kyprianou expressed reservations concerning the international diplomatic mobilization observed lately regarding Cyprus, while mr.Kaklamanis after pointing out the importance of the Joint Defence Doctrine stressed that the excellent cooperation between the two Parliaments will continue. [09] THE CRISIS IN THE PARTY OF NEW DEMOCRACY CAN BE FATAL, STATED THE PARTY'S HONORARY PRESIDENT MR.MITSOTAKISThe political council of the main opposition party New Democracy meets to discuss the problems created in the party after the latest developments. Konstantinos Mitsotakis, former Prime Minister and ND honorary President, in an interview published today in the newspaper "Adesmeftos Typos" stated that the crisis within the party could be fatal. He said that New Democracy is at a dangerous turning point and therefore everyone must assume their responsibilities. ND Parliamentary Group Secretary Giorgos Panagiotopoulos reacted strongly to the statements made by mr.Mitsotakis stating that the word fatal used by the ND honorary President does not fit the party. Mr.Mitsotakis commenting on yesterday's report published in the newspaper "Apogevmatini", according to which he will resign from his seat in Parliament, characterized it as pure provocation, since this newspaper could have asked him to confirm whether the information it was about to publish was founded or not. [10] MINISTER OF CULTURE IN VENICE, GREEK LANGUAGE TO BE TAUGHT IN UNIVERSITYThe Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos is in Venice, Italy, where he signed an agreement with the Dean of the University of Venice to establish the teaching of the modern greek language. According to the agreement, it provides for the founding of a permanent seat for teaching the greek language and part of the tab will be picked up by the Greek Ministry of Culture for the next five years. Mr. Venizelos emphasized the significant historical and cultural ties that bind Greece with Venice, a city that for many years was the cornerstone of greek letters and printing. [11] GREEK CONSTRUCTORS-BUILDERS LOOK INTO BUSINESS VENTURES IN FYROMA delegation of Greek businessmen in the construction and building sector are in FYROM where they examine the opportunities for collaboration with comparable companies in Skopje. The delegation, headed by the Foreign Ministry's director of the Greece-FYROM Economic Cooperation Department Dimitris Platis, met FYROM's Premier Branco Cervenkovski and FYROM's Ministers of City Planning, Reconstruction and Transport, Georgi Shudovski and Dimitar Buzlevski, respectively. Mr. Cervenkovski expressed his conviction that today's meeting constitutes a promotion of all-inclusive cooperation between Greece and FYROM. The director of Greece's liaison office in Skopje, ambassador Alexandros Mallias, who also participated in the meeting, emphasized that the talks will bear positive impact not only on the two countries' economic relations, but in the strengthening of cooperation in other sectors as well. The 13-member Greek delegation and the officials from FYROM also examined the potential of joint ventures between Greece-FYROM in third countries. [12] NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL OF GREEKS ABROAD TAKES OFFICE TOMORROWThe new Secretary-General of Greeks Abroad Stavros Labrinides will take office tomorrow, following his appointment by the Foreign Ministry. The 34-year-old international relations expert, is a professor at Yale University and in 1994 served as advisor to the then-vice minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou on matters of international law and Greek-American relations, as well as Mr. Papandreou's special advisor when the latter was Minister of Education. Since January of 1996, Mr. Labrinides has been the Secretariat Director of Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos. [13] PRIME MINISTER KOSTAS SIMITIS MEETS WITH PASOK EURODEPUTIESPrime Minister Kostas Simitis met this afternoon with PASOK's eurodeputies and exchanged views on the matters concerning the European Union. Present during the meeting were also the Minister of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Pangalos and alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou. Eurodeputy Paraskevas Avgerinos, who is the head of the group, stated that the meeting was productive since issues of concern to the PASOK eurodeputies were discussed and prioritized. Mr. Papandreou stated that the discussion was fruitful and added that he looks forward to a productive cooperation with the eurodeputies. [14] DIONYSIS SAVOPOULOS TO PERFORM IN LOS ANGELES ON NOVEMBER 15Dionysis Savvopoulos, a legendary name representing a whole era in Greek music, will perform live in Los Angeles on November 15. Savvopoulos will appear at the Wilshire Ebell Theater at 8 p.m. and is expected to perform a potpouri of his older songs, along with newer compositions. [15] COOPERATION OF SEISMOLOGISTS FROM ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY AND THE CYPRIOT GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INSTITUTESeismologists from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and from the Cypriot Geological Survey Institute will cooperate in the prediction of earthquakes and in dealing with their effects. The decision was made based on the results of the existing programme of cooperation between the Aristotle University Geophysics Laboratory and the Institute of Technical Seismology and Anti-seismic Constructions based in Thessaloniki in which participate different laboratories and institutes, among them and that of Cyprus. Aristotle University Seismology professor Vasilis Papazachos stated to MPA referring to the earthquake that hit Cyprus recently and measured 6,8 on the Richter scale, that the geophysical properties of the greek and the cypriot seismic arcs have great similarities and therefore the cooperation between the two institutes can be proven to be very useful. [16] M.P.A. DIRECTOR-GENERAL VISITS WITH ROMPRESS COUNTERPART IN BUCHARESTThe director-general of the Macedonian Press Agency Spiros Kouzinopoulos was received yesterday by Romania's National News Agency Rompress in Bucharest. The M.P.A. journalists met with the Rompress General Director Neagu Udroiu and discussed collaboration opportunities between the two news agencies, at both a bilateral level and within the Association of the Balkan News Agencies. [17] MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE IN ADELAIDE, BACKS GREEK- AUSTRALIAN TRADEA greek business delegation will visit Australia's Adelaide in March of 1997, in an effort to develop economic and trade cooperation between South Australia with Northern Greece, and subsequently with the Balkans, eastern Europe and the Black Sea countries. The visit is the result of an initiative undertaken by the Hellenic-Australian Chamber and the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Thessaloniki. Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Philippos Petsalnikos, currently on a formal visit to Australia, stated that he noted intense interest on behalf of Australian businessmen to establish contacts with northern Greece. The Presidents of the Hellenic-Australian Chamber Vasilis Taliantzis and the Chamber of Commerce in Adelaide Lindsey Thompson met with Mr. Petsalnikos and conveyed to him their satisfaction stemming from South Australia's participation at Thessaloniki's 61st international Trade Fair held in September. In turn, Mr. Petsalnikos referred to the issue of establishing an Australian consulate in Thessaloniki, a matter which, both Mr. Tzaliantzis and Mr.Thompson believe, should materialize within six months. The Minister of Macedonia-Thrace will depart Adelaide for Perth this evening, the last stop of his visit to Australia. [18] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE VARTHOLOMEOS TO VISIT AUSTRALIAThe Ecumenical Patriarchate Vartholomeos will arrive in Australia on Thursday and will embark on a series of contacts beginning with the Governor of West Australia Michael Jeffrey in Perth. On Friday, November 6, Mr. Vartholomeos will also meet with West Australia's Prime Minister Richard Cord and will visit the Greek Orthodox churches in the region. On Saturday evening the Ecumenical Patriarchate will depart for Adelaide, the second stop of his tour, where he will be bestowed with an honorary doctorate title from the University of Adelaide. [19] GREEK UNDERSECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN CYPRUS, TO MEET WITH CLERIDESGreek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Christos Rozakis has arrived in Cyprus, embarking on a week of successive contacts with Cypriot leaders. Heading a Foreign Ministry delegation, Mr. Rozakis will aim to coordinate the strategy of the Cyprus problem under the prism of the relevant initiatives being developed, as well as the process of Cyprus' accession to the European Union. Mr. Rozakis will meet with the Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides and Cypriot Foreign Minister Alekos Michaelides, as well as Archbishop Chrysostomos. Following his arrival in Nicosia last evening, Mr. Rozakis strated that both the cypriot and the greek government view this visit as significant in the effort to form common positions and coordinate the activity in all the views surrounding the developments of the cypriot issue. [20] THE GREEK FILM DIRECTORS VOULGARIS AND KOKKINOS WILL PRESENT SOME OF THEIR WORK IN TORONTOGreek film directors Pantelis Voulgaris and Antonis Kokkinos will visit the city of Toronto in Canada in order to present their films to the canadian public. The screening of their films will be held within the framework of the 3rd Greek Cinema Festival organized in the city. Pantelis Voulgaris, who participates in the Festival with all his pictures from "Anna's engagement" to "Acropol", stated that through such events foreigners learn more about the non-tourist Greece. He also said that Toronto's Festival should be enriched and with other expressions of greek art in order to present a more complete picture of the contemporary greek culture. The two film directors left today for Saint Louis in the United States where their films "Acropol" and "End of an Era" will compete in the Film Festival organized in the city. [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS[21] PRESIDENT OF CYPRIOT PARLIAMENT SPYROS KYPRIANOU IN ATHENS TODAYThe Speaker of the Cypriot House of Representatives Spyros Kyprianou has arrived in Athens, following an invitation issued by the President of the Greek Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis. Mr. Kyprianou will be received by the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos and Prime Minister Kostas Simitis. Mr. Kyprianou and Mr. Kaklamanis wil discuss matters of establishing coordination between the two parliaments. The Cypriot official will also meet with Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos and leaders from various political parties. Mr. Kyprianou, who is accompanied by the director of Cyprus's International Relations Services Yiannakis Georgiadis, will remain in Athens until November 6. [22] GREECE-FYROM TALKS ON NAME ISSUE TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY IN NEW YORKA new round of talks on the name issue between Greece and FYROM will be held in New York on Wednesday, November 6. Greece's Ambassador Christos Zacharakis and FYROM's representative Ivan Tosevski will meet under the auspices of United Nations Secretary General's mediator Cyrus Vance. [23] ROMANIA: ILIESCU LEADS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, OPPOSITION IN PARLIAMENTRomanians were called to the polling stations yesterday to elect the members of their parliament's two chambers and the country's new president. Incumbent President Ion Iliescu, leader of the Party of Democratic Socialist of Romania (PDSR), is expected to be re- elected since, according to informal polls, up-to-date results show that he has earned 33 per cent of the votes, as opposed to the other major contenders who are opposition party Democratic Coalition of Romania (CDR) Emil Constantinescu with 30 per cent and the former Premier Petre Roman, President of the United Social- Democrats (USD) with 20 per cent. While Iliescu appears ahead in the presidential race, Constantinescu's party CDR has the lead in the parliamentary elections where he gathered approximately 32% of the votes. During his pre-election campaign, Constantinescu alluded that in case he wins the parliamentary round, he will side with USD. The elections took place at a difficult time for Romania, a country traversing a process of transition to the market economy, a telling factor of the people's living standrard. This is the third poll after the overthrow of the communist regime in December 1989. The previous one, in 1992, was won by the Party of Social Democracy of Romania, set up of the National Salvation Front and by Iliescu. Over 15,000 electorate centers were stationed throughout Romania, while the voting process was supervised by 13,490 monitors. [24] GREEK MAN ELECTED DEPUTY IN ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVERFor the first time in the history of the Romanian Parliament, a Greek man has been elected deputy, as has emerged for the up-to- date polls from last night's parliamentary elections. The 65-year-old Sotiris Fotopoulos, whose origin is from Kastoria, has been living in Bucharest since he was 18. "We aim to bring to the Romanian Parliament an air of friendship and cooperation between the two people and to form a bridge for the full-scale development of the Greek-Romanian relations which today are very good," Mr. Fotopoulos told the Macedonian Press Agency. Mr. Fotopoulos is the President of the Association of Greeks in Romania, which has about 20,000 members, and a member of the Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) where he had participated in its founding conference held in Thessaloniki in November 1995. The parliamentarian stated that he will seek to gain the parliament's support in finding a fair solution to the Cyprus problem, in denouncing turkish aggression and in combating the efforts to usurpe Macedonia's name. [25] BULGARIA: PETER STOYANOV WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONSBulgaria's new president is Peter Stoyanov, Deputy Chairman of the centrist United Democratic Forces (UDF), following the vote count of last night's run-offs where he is estimated at having garnered 60 per cent of the cast ballots. "From now on I have one party and that is called 'Bulgaria'," said the 44-year-old Stoyanov, the country's second president since Bulgaria's democratic change of 1989. The other main contender for the presidential seat, Ivan Marazov of the Democratic Left gathered 40% of the votes. [26] BULGARIA: PREMIER JEAN VIDENOV TO ASK FOR VOTE OF CONFIDENCEBulgaria's Prime Minister Jean Videnov announced today that he will seek a vote of confidence from his party during the Socialist Party's convention next week, following today's announcement of Peter Stoyanov's victory in the presidential run- offs held yesterday. According to the latest polls, the conservative 44-year-old Stoyanov gathered 59.9% of the votes, whereas his opponent Ivan Marazov, the Democratic Left's nominee, earned 40.1%. [27] FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA: MILOSEVIC ENJOYS AVALANCHE VICTORYThe Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's leftist coalition- Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in alliance with the Yugoslav Left (JUL) led by Milosevic's wife Mira Markovic and the New Democracy party (ND)- has earned aproximately 50 per cent of the votes in yesterday's elections, providing the Serb President with an avalanche victory. According to reports, Milosevic's certain triumph emerges from the counted two-thirds of the ballots, although official election results are expected to be announced by Thursday night, at the latest. These are the country's first elections following the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the lift of the embargo imposed on Belgrade from the international community, with a voter turn-out reaching 61 per cent of the electorate body. It should be noted that voting is not mandatory in FRY. [28] YUGOSLAVIA: SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AND HIS COALITION WIN ELECTIONSSerb President Slobodan Milosevic emerged as the winner in yesterday's elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where the leftist coalition -Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in alliance wih the Yugoslav Left (JUL) led by Milosevic's wife Mira Markovic and the New Democracy party (ND)- has earned aproximately 50 per cent of the votes. According to the Serb-owned televIsion station, out of 1,115,371 cast ballots, the leftist alliance gathered 560,570 votes, a rate over 50 per cent. These are the country's first elections following the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the lift of the embargo imposed on Belgrade from the international community, with a voter turn-out reaching 61 per cent of the electorate body. It should be noted that voting is not mandatory in FRY. Official election results are expected to be announced by Thursday night, at the latest. [29] FYROM CITIZENS IN AUSTRALIA SUE STATE OVER "SLAV-MACEDONIAN" NAMEThe Australian state of Victoria's government desicion to address the language spoken by FYROM's residents as "slav- macedonian" has been met with the displeasure of Australia's so called "Macedonians" who filed a suit against the state, in a case expected to be tried at the end of the month in Camberra's federal court. The decision to admit the language spoken in FYROM as "slav- macedonian" and not "macedonian" was made known to Greece's Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Philippos Petsalnikos by Victoria's Education Minister Phil Honeywood, during the former's visit to Australia. The court's decision on the matter is expected to be final. [30] TWO TURKISH MILITARY EXERCISES BEGIN IN THE INTERNATIONAL WATERS OF EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN CYPRUSThe scheduled military exercise of the turkish armed forces code-named "Kararlilik" begins today, while a second military exercise code-named "Toros" begins tomorrow. Both of them will be held in the international waters in Eastern Mediterranean and the occupied territories in Cyprus. In the exercises in which participate occupation, security and air and sea forces will be used live ammunition. [31] THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNIFICATION WILL BE THE THEME OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN THESSALONIKIThe European Economic and Monetary unification will be the topic of the 10th Conference of the International Federation of Houses of Europe that will be held in Thessaloniki on November 8- 11. President of the House of Europe in Thessaloniki Nikos Konstas pointed out that in the course toward the single currency are being threatened the Europe of labour, the social protection and the businesses which will not be able to face the tough competition ahead. In the conference that will formally open on Friday will participate distinguished personalities from Greece and other european countries. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/ |
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