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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-07-04
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, June 4, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE AT THE GREEK-TURKISH BORDERS
[02] INTER-BALKAN INSTITUTE ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN
THESSALONIKI
[03] THE ATHENS 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES ARE A NATIONAL AFFAIR
[04] LOSSES OF -1.28% IN THE ASE
[05] PAPANTONIOU: THE GREEK ECONOMY IS IN A GOOD STATE
[06] REPPAS: SYSTEMATIC "MAD COW" DISEASE INSPECTIONS
[07] A GREEK BODYBUILDER WON THE "MISS UNIVERSE" TITLE
[08] 820.000 INSPECTIONS IN LIVESTOCK FARMS
[09] LABOR MINISTRY RESEARCH ON UNEMPLOYMENT
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] GREECE-TURKEY-US-ITALY: COOPERATION ON EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE AT THE GREEK-TURKISH BORDERS
The veterinary agencies in the prefecture of Evros in
northern Greece are in a state of alert as a result of the foot-
and-mouth disease case traced in a heard of goats and sheep, 45
kilometers from the Greek-Turkish borders. Border guards are in a
state of preparedness to stop the disease from spreading to
Greece.
For the record, 4.000 goats and sheep were destroyed last
year compared to 60.000 in 1995, while 5.000 cattle were destroyed
in 2000 compared to 6.500 five years ago.
[02] INTER-BALKAN INSTITUTE ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN
THESSALONIKI
The Inter-Balkan Public Administration Institute aimed at the
modernization of public administration, peace, cooperation and
development in the Balkans will open in Thessaloniki.
The initiative was launched a year ago within the framework
of the INTERREG II European Union program and the institute's
founding charter was approved a few days ago.
The institute will be formally established in the conference
that will be held in Thessaloniki on July 5-6 organized by the
Association of Public Servants' Organizations in Thessaloniki in
cooperation with similar workers' unions from Albania, Bulgaria,
and FYROM.
Among the delegations that will participate in the conference
will be representatives from Turkish and Romanian unions.
[03] THE ATHENS 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES ARE A NATIONAL AFFAIR
Prime minister Kostas Simitis, who visited the "Athens 2004"
organizing committee offices today, stated that the 2004 Olympic
Games are a national affair. Mr. Simitis met with organizing
committee president Ms. Yianna Angelopoulou-Daskalakis and
organization officials.
In statements he made, the prime minister referred to the
whole spectrum of the Olympic Games preparations and especially to
the projects' preparations, the contribution of the Greek
athletes, the Paralympics, the Cultural Olympiad, and the Olympic
Truce.
Mr. Simitis stated that the Olympic Games concern the whole
of Greece and not only Athens, adding that the Athens 2004
preparations program, with a budget of 432 billion drachmas,
provides for the construction of projects throughout the country.
The prime minister stated that sports, road and transport
infrastructure projects are underway across Greece, while the
Greek industry and small industry sectors, as well as the tourism
and construction sectors are being strengthened.
He also referred to the activation of the citizens, the young
and the Greeks abroad, to contribute to the better organizing of a
world event that will take place in Greece, while regarding the
investments made, he pointed out that most of them come from the
Greeks abroad and Cyprus.
Mr. Simitis also underlined the importance of the Olympic
Truce and stressed that the Olympic Games are games of peace,
cooperation, and friendship.
[04] LOSSES OF -1.28% IN THE ASE
The losses continue in the Athens Stock Exchange. The general
index dropped to -1.28% at 2.648,42 points, while the volume of
transactions was very small at 79.02 million Euro or 26.92 billion
drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 75 recorded gains and 258 had
losses, while the value of 42 stocks remained stable.
[05] PAPANTONIOU: THE GREEK ECONOMY IS IN A GOOD STATE
The state of the Greek economy continues to be good in spite
of the notable slowdown recorded at an international level. The
above were stated by minister of national economy Yiannos
Papantoniou during the presentation of the biannual report on the
Greek economy drawn up by the national economy ministry.
Mr. Papantoniou predicted a growth rate of 4.6% in 2001
compared to 5%, which was the initial target, while he concluded
that the average inflation will be at 2.9% compared to the initial
prediction of 2.3%.
However, Mr. Papantoniou clarified that the budget will be
implemented faithfully in spite of the shortfall recorded in
certain revenue sources, adding that the deficit will be covered
by other revenues from other sources.
Concerning the growth rate, the national economy minister
clarified that in the first trimester of 2001 there was an
increase of 6.1% mainly due to the big investments and the
increase in consumption.
Mr. Papantoniou expressed the belief that economy continues
to be on a good course in spite of the heavy political climate to
which the disagreements inside the governing socialist party of
PASOK played a role. He said that the decision to move up the
PASOK party congress has as a goal the improvement of the
political climate which will help in the recovery of the stock
market.
[06] REPPAS: SYSTEMATIC "MAD COW" DISEASE INSPECTIONS
The inspections conducted in Greece on the "mad cow" disease
are systematic and strict, reiterated government spokesman
Dimitris Reppas, pointing out that we should not give the
impression that Greece is hit by the disease because this is not
true.
The appearance of just one "mad cow" incident does not create
risks for public health, stressed Mr. Reppas, adding that
inspections are strict and precautionary measures are being taken
for the protection of public health.
[07] A GREEK BODYBUILDER WON THE "MISS UNIVERSE" TITLE
The "Miss Universe" title was won by Popi Tsintari, a 24-year-
old athlete from Thessaloniki, Greece, who competed in the annual
Natural Amateur Bodybuilding Association, NABBA, men-women
championship held in Volos, central Greece and in the World
Bodybuilding Fitness Federation, WBBF, championship that was held
in Baden, Austria.
The young athlete was distinguished among 100 athletes
representing the world elite in fitness and bodybuilding and won
the title in Austria for a second year in a row.
To be able to compete in the WBBF championship, Tsintari had
to win in the Greek NABBA championship facing 12 leading athletes
from Greece.
[08] 820.000 INSPECTIONS IN LIVESTOCK FARMS
Over 820.000 inspections have been held since the beginning
of the year in livestock farms across Greece, stated agriculture
minister Giorgos Anomeritis, warning that the municipal
slaughterhouses that will not modernize by this fall will be
closed down.
Speaking in the Athens radio station "Flash", Mr. Anomeritis
stressed that new personnel will be hired for more effective
inspections and underlined that there is no second "mad cow"
disease case, denying today's press reports.
[09] LABOR MINISTRY RESEARCH ON UNEMPLOYMENT
High unemployment and at the same time increased demand for
new personnel, are the conclusions of a research conducted by the
Greek labor ministry with the participation of 6.228 companies.
Based on the research, 32.1% of the companies stated that
they need new personnel and the biggest demand was found in the
Athens region (65.1%), central Macedonia (10.3%), north and south
Aegean (9.5%), followed by central Greece, Epirus and Crete.
First in demand are salespersons, unskilled industrial
workers, accountants, truck and bus drivers, followed by tourist
sector occupations, civil engineers, machinery operators, computer
analysts, stock-keepers, and economists.
Minister of labor Tasos Yiannitsis stated that the new
infrastructure projects will contribute to the drop of
unemployment.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] GREECE-TURKEY-US-ITALY: COOPERATION ON EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
A broad scientific cooperation among research centers in the
United States, Greece, Turkey, and Italy will be launched by mid
summer in Greece aimed at evaluating the risk for a new big
earthquake in the region of eastern Mediterranean which has an
intense seismic activity.
According to the Greek service of the "Voice of America"
radio, the details of the cooperation will be announced in a press
conference in New York on July 10 that will be given by Columbia
University Geo-physics Studies Center scientists. The press
conference will take place in Greece's permanent representation
offices at the UN.
Within the framework of this pioneer program, scientists,
mainly geologists and engineers, as well as technocrats
representing the responsible agencies in the four countries
mentioned earlier, will cooperate to develop a better
understanding of the procedures that cause earthquakes in northern
Aegean, will estimate the risk for new earthquakes in the region
and measure the economic and social consequences as a result of a
new major earthquake hit.
In the research, that will take place in the Aegean, will be
used Columbia University's scientific research boat "Maurice
Ewing" that will be in Piraeus for the signing ceremony of the
cooperation agreement on August 2.
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