Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-10-23
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, October 23, 1998
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] PREMIER TO MEET WITH ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IN MT. ATHOS
[02] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS CONTINUES VISIT TO MT. ATHOS
[03] INNER CABINET CONVENES TODAY, MEETING CHAIRED BY PREMIER
[04] GREEK PUBLIC ORDER MINISTER RECEIVES ALBANIAN COUNTERPART
[05] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS ON THE ROLE OF ORTHODOXY
[06] NEW LOSSES IN THE EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS
[07] TURKISH FIGHTER JETS VIOLATED THE CYPRIOT AIR SPACE
[08] EURO-DEPUTY TRAKATELIS DEMANDS THE CLOSURE OF THE KOZLODUI
NUCLEAR PLANT
[09] GREECE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE MODERNIZATION OF THE ALGERIAN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
[10] KAKLAMANIS' MESSAGE TO THE UN ON THE CYPRUS ISSUE
[11] A YOUNG SERB WAS KILLED BY POLICE BULLETS IN THESSALONIKI
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[12] EU INFORMAL SUMMIT THIS WEEKEND TO DISCUSS EUROPE'S FUTURE
[13] GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
[14] US ENVOY HILL: SERB FORCES HAVE NOT WITHDRAWN FROM KOSSOVO
[15] WEU MILITARY CHIEFS TO MEET IN ROME THIS WEEKEND
[16] NICOSIA SUPPORTS ATHENS' OBJECTIONS TO EU FUNDING FOR ANKARA
[17] HELSINKI FEATURES MONTH-LONG GREEK CINEMA FESTIVAL
[18] THE MORNING PHASE OF THE "NIKIFOROS" MILITARY EXERCISE WAS
COMPLETED
[19] THE OTE SHARES WERE PRESENTED TO 70 US INSTITUTIONAL
INVESTORS
[20] THE MINISTER OF DEVELOPMENT WILL VISIT THE UNITED STATES
[21] INCREASED MILITARY SPENDING BY GREECE AND TURKEY
[22] GREECE AND RUSSIA CONFIRMED THE GOOD LEVEL OF BILATERAL
RELATIONS
[23] POSSIBLE ESPIONAGE CASE IN CYPRUS INVOLVING BRITAIN'S
MILITARY ATTACHE
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] PREMIER TO MEET WITH ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH IN MT. ATHOS
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will travel to Mount Athos, the
monastic community in northern Greece, on Monday where he will
meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos, the spiritual leader
of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians.
His All Holiness is to embark on a two-day visit to the
autonomous monastic community this weekend, in honor of the
1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Xenophon Monastery. He
is also expected to meet with the President of the Hellenic
Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos.
[02] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS CONTINUES VISIT TO MT. ATHOS
The Archbishop of Athens and All of Greece Christodoulos
continues his visit to the monastic community of Mt. Athos.
Today, he will visit the monasteries of Dionysius, St.
Paul, Xeropotamos and Simonopetra while tomorrow he will attend
the festivities held at the monastery of Xenophon in commemoration
of its 1,000-year anniversary.
The President of the Hellenic republic Kostis Stephanopoulos
will be present at the festivities, along with the Ecumenical
Patriarch Vartholomeos, the President of the Hellenic Parliament
Apostolos Kaklamanis and a delegation of government officials.
Prime Minster Kostas Simitis will not attend
tomorrow's events at Mt. Athos since he will in Austria for the EU
informal summit.
[03] INNER CABINET CONVENES TODAY, MEETING CHAIRED BY PREMIER
The inner cabinet is convening today in a meeting chaired by
the Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, in order to finalize the
forthcoming fiscal year's budget. The governor of the Bank of
Greece Lukas Papademos is to also participate in the discussion.
According to reports, the government will examine the
reduction of the vehicle sales tax, as well as the value added tax
imposed n the electricity and waters bills, as well as on
medicines.
Meanwhile, according to a report issued by the Institute of
Economic and Industrial Research, it is quite feasible Greece will
gain accession to the Economic and Monetary Union.
[04] GREEK PUBLIC ORDER MINISTER RECEIVES ALBANIAN COUNTERPART
Greek Public Order Minister George Romeos received his
Albanian counterpart Petro Koci in Athens yesterday, with whom he
discussed various issues concerning crime in both countries and
ways to curb criminal activity.
Among the topics discussed by the two officials was the
criminal activity some Albanian nationals engage in while in
Greece.
Talks also focused on the efforts that need to be undertaken
by Albania in order to improve the guarding of border crossings,
thereby averting criminals from entering the country.
Mr. Koci, who was accompanied by a delegation from the
Albanian public order ministry, was shown analytical figures that
list criminal acts committed throughout the state of Greece by
apprehended Albanians.
Moreover, both sides agreed to further improve border police
cooperation between the two countries and to post liaison officers
in the respective ministries.
[05] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS ON THE ROLE OF ORTHODOXY
The time has arrived for Orthodoxy to serve as the compass
for the world's return to a Christian life, stressed the
Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece Archsbishop during his
reply speech at the Monastery of Dionesus at Mt. Athos where he
was greeted by the Reverend Father Petros.
Referring to Mt. Athos, his Eminence stated that this is the
land where the Greek-Orthodox culture and tradition live and
reign.
Moreover, he added that "we are here to accomplish
great achievements in strength and support in order to press on
with an effort, a struggle which we have undertaken and this
struggle is to embed these ideals into the souls of the Greeks.
And I am pleased to ascertain that our people accept these
principles and want to lean on this strength which has for always
constituted God's omnipotence through which our peoples and our
nation not only survived, but lived and excelled."
[06] NEW LOSSES IN THE EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS
New losses were recorded today in the European stock markets.
The main characteristic of the sessions was that the volume of the
transactions was at low levels as the investors have adopted a
wait-and-see stance.
In the Athens Stock Exchange the general index dropped by
0.97%.
[07] TURKISH FIGHTER JETS VIOLATED THE CYPRIOT AIR SPACE
Greek fighter jets were harassed again today by Turkish
aircraft in the Cypriot air space, where the "Nikiforos '98"
exercise takes place, and in some instances the harassment took
the form of engagement. The exercise of the Cypriot National Guard
continues with Greece's participation.
Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides expressed satisfaction
over today's phase of the exercise and welcomed the decision taken
by Athens and Nicosia to hold the exercise jointly.
[08] EURO-DEPUTY TRAKATELIS DEMANDS THE CLOSURE OF THE KOZLODUI
NUCLEAR PLANT
Right-wing main opposition party New Democracy Euro-deputy
Antonis Trakatelis speaking in the plenary session of the European
Parliament demanded the immediate interruption of the operation of
the Kozlodui nuclear plant in Bulgaria.
Mr. Trakatelis underlined that the European Union must assist
Bulgaria by undertaking an active role in the effort to limit its
dependence on nuclear energy and added that nothing is more
important than to avoid a new Chernobil disaster for the European
citizens and all its horrible consequences.
[09] GREECE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE MODERNIZATION OF THE ALGERIAN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Greece can contribute to the modernization of the state-run
Algerian telecommunications by offering know-how and experience,
stated in an interview with MPA, Mahhidine Quhadi adviser to the
Algerian telecommunications minister.
The adviser of the Algerian minister expressed skepticism
over the applications of modern telecommunications, on the
sidelines of the 3rd international conference on "the prospects in
the new economic space after the year 2000" that is being held in
Alexandroupolis, north-eastern Greece.
The Algerian government official stated that he has
reservations regarding the development of the Global Mobile
Personal Communication by Satellite system (GMPCS), which will be
on the market next spring, as it can jam the national networks
which are also served by satellites.
[10] KAKLAMANIS' MESSAGE TO THE UN ON THE CYPRUS ISSUE
The continuing tragedy in Cyprus poisons the international
community and tests the confidence of the people in the potential
of peaceful co-habitation and honest cooperation.
The above are stressed among others in a letter sent by Greek
parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis to UN secretary-general
Kofi Annan and the presidents of the EU state parliaments on the
occasion of the 53rd anniversary of the United Nations
Organization.
Mr. Kaklamanis criticizes the stance adopted by Mr. Annan
when he addressed both Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides and
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as "excellencies". Mr.
Kaklamanis stressed in his message that this behavior is an
unacceptable concession by the UN secretary-general toward the
Turkish demand to treat the Cypriot Republic and the Turkish
Cypriot regime in the Turkish occupied northern Cyprus as equals.
[11] A YOUNG SERB WAS KILLED BY POLICE BULLETS IN THESSALONIKI
An 18yearold Serb was shot and killed by a police officer
chasing a suspect of handbag thefts at the center of Thessaloniki.
The circumstances under which the bloody incident took place
are not clear yet as it is not known if the police officer opened
fire or whether his gun went off accidentally killing young Marko
Bulatovic from Belgrade.
Based on unconfirmed information, the Serb was a member of a
group of students from Belgrade visiting Thessaloniki. The city's
police authorities have made no statement yet on the incident.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[12] EU INFORMAL SUMMIT THIS WEEKEND TO DISCUSS EUROPE'S FUTURE
Greece's Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will depart for
Austria today in order to attend this weekend's informal summit to
be held in Portschach.
The leaders of the European Union's member states are to
discuss the future of Europe, the EU's enlargement, the Economic
and Monetary Union, the desired political fulfillment and the
social continent.
Austria's chancellor Victor Klima, whose country presently
holds the EU's rotating presidency expressed the hope that the
Meeting will be successful and has stated before the European
Parliament that "Europe has an obligation to undertake its global
financial responsibilities and to contribute to the ongoing world
crisis as well as to the restoration of the global economy to a
point of stability."
[13] GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
Greece's Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, currently on an
official visit to Russia, met with Prime Minister Yevgeni
Primakov and his counterpart Igor Ivanov in Moscow yesterday
The Russian Premier expressed his satisfaction over the
bolstering of ties between the two countries, while he also
stressed that economic relations are on a good path and "our
policy is parallel and one could say that we share common points
of view on a great number of issues."
[14] US ENVOY HILL: SERB FORCES HAVE NOT WITHDRAWN FROM KOSSOVO
United States envoy to Kossovo Christopher Hill has stated
that the Yugoslav authorities have not yet withdrawn troops in a
sufficient number that would satisfy the United Nations.
According to political observers, Serb security force
continue to be stationed in two regions of Kossovo where the state
army was recently involved in conflict with the Albanian rebels.
[15] WEU MILITARY CHIEFS TO MEET IN ROME THIS WEEKEND
The heads of the Western European Union's (WEU) national
defense general staffs will convene in Rome this weekend to
examine the restructuring of the organization's military staff and
the creation of a special planning group to facilitate
participation of WEU observer nations in operations and exercises.
Greece will be represented by National Defense General Staff
chief Gen. Athanasios Tzoganis.
It will be the first session at which the chiefs of the WEU's
national defense general staffs will convene as a military
committee after its creation was ratified during the ministerial
session in Rhodes. The three NATO candidate countries Poland,
Hungary and the Czech Republic will attend the session for the
first time as associate WEU members.
[16] NICOSIA SUPPORTS ATHENS' OBJECTIONS TO EU FUNDING FOR ANKARA
The Cypriot government believes Greece's objection to a
proposal by the European Commission to offer community funds to
Turkey is right and falls within the framework of European Union
institutions.
"Greece has already outlined its initial response to
yesterday's move. This is within the framework of EU institutions
and we shall have to wait for the outcome in this issue," Cypriot
government spokesman Christos Stylianides stated.
Acknowledging that Greece stood alone in its stance at the
Commission meeting in Strasbourg, he said "it is clear that Greece
is in the right in this effort."
He also pointed out that the Commission's decision to
circumvent the Greek veto was not related to Cyprus' course of
accession to the European Union.
[17] HELSINKI FEATURES MONTH-LONG GREEK CINEMA FESTIVAL
Motion pictures of the Greek modern cinema will be featured
in Finland for a month, during the Greek cinema festival to be
held in Helsinki between October 27-November 28.
The event is being jointly organized by the Center of Greek
Cinema, the Film Club of Finland, the Greek-Finnish Associations
Union and the Greek Embassy.
Directors whose films will be featured at the festival are
Theodoros Aggelopoulos, whose film "Eternity and a Day" earned the
Palme d' Or award at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Andreas
Thomopoulos, Pericles Hoursoglou, Panos Karkanevatos, Christos
Voupouras and George Korras.
[18] THE MORNING PHASE OF THE "NIKIFOROS" MILITARY EXERCISE WAS
COMPLETED
The morning phase of the National Guard exercise, code-named
"Nikiforos '98", was completed with absolute success in Larnaca in
the presence of Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides and minister of
defense Yiannakis Omirou.
The exercise was based on a scenario involving Greek Air
Force planes and Greek Navy ships such as, frigate "Spetses" and
destroyer "Kimon".
[19] THE OTE SHARES WERE PRESENTED TO 70 US INSTITUTIONAL
INVESTORS
The presentation of the Greek Telecommunications Company
(OTE) shares to 70 institutional investors in the United States
yesterday, in view of the third phase of the company's
privatization, was very successful. The package, that corresponds
to 10% of the total number of shares, persuaded the 70 brokerage
companies that manage over 6 trillion US dollars to attend the
presentation.
It should be reminded that starting on November 2 the OTE
shares will be in the New York Stock Exchange, while they are
already in the Stock Exchange of Athens and London.
The share price will be announced on Sunday and the
investors' registration will take place in Greece on October 26-30
based on the maximum share price.
[20] THE MINISTER OF DEVELOPMENT WILL VISIT THE UNITED STATES
A discussion on the "Greek-US relations: future prospects"
will be held at the main offices of the Philip Morris
International company in New York on October 26 with the
participation of Greek minister of development Vaso Papandreou, US
ambassador to Athens Nicholas Burns and Greek ambassador to
Washington Alexandros Filonas.
The event will be held with the support of Philip Morris, the
World Business Relations Conference and the Greek-US Business
Council.
[21] INCREASED MILITARY SPENDING BY GREECE AND TURKEY
The armaments spending in Greece and Turkey shows an increase
at a time when a downward trend prevails both at a world and at a
European level, according to the London based International
Institute for Strategic Studies report on "Military Balance in
1998-99".
Based on the report, military spending in the European NATO
member-states dropped by 9% last year. At the same time, military
spending in Turkey increased from 7.5 billion US dollars to 8.1
billion and in Greece showed a smaller increase, from 3.6 to 3.8
billion US dollars.
In the report it is mentioned that last year there was an
increased likelihood of an armed conflict between Greece and
Turkey due to the Cyprus problem and the problems in the Aegean.
The Cyprus issue is regarded as a problem that needs immediate
solution but it is acknowledged that a long time will pass before
a solution is found.
According to the report, in the past 5 years the United
States had a 40-45% share in the arms market, followed by Israel
with 35-45%, while a smaller share have countries such England,
Russia, China, France and Germany.
[22] GREECE AND RUSSIA CONFIRMED THE GOOD LEVEL OF BILATERAL
RELATIONS
The very positive level of the Greek-Russian relations was
confirmed in the contacts Greek foreign minister Theodoros
Pangalos had in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov
and prime minister Gevgeni Primakov.
The two foreign ministers signed two agreements for the
establishment and the operation of general consulates in Russia
and Greece and the joint publication in both languages of the
bilateral relations archives since the founding of the modern
Greek state.
On the issue of Kossovo, they concluded that they share the
same views while it was underlined that in order to have a
solution the initiatives must be balanced and not unilateral. At
the same time, the two foreign ministers stressed that the
decisions on Kossovo concern the two sides directly involved in
the crisis.
[23] POSSIBLE ESPIONAGE CASE IN CYPRUS INVOLVING BRITAIN'S
MILITARY ATTACHE
The likelihood of espionage is being examined by the Cypriot
authorities, according to which, Britain's military attache and
two other British nationals were found yesterday wandering in a
forbidden zone without the necessary permit.
The British nationals, who were found in the off-limits
region during the military exercise "Nikiforos", maintained that
they were visiting the area as tourists. In their possession where
found maps of the island.
Britain's High Commissioner David Maten confirmed that the
three Britons have been arrested by the Cypriot authorities as
suspects of spying.
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