As he mentioned, in order for Greek authorities to deal with the country's needs in case of a biological war or biological terrorism, Greece has procured 1.5 million doses of the vaccine against smallpox, which has a considerable cost and constitutes a s erious guarding problem and an availability problem for the country's peripheral services.

Mr. Giannopoulos asked to know what the total cost of the doses of the vaccine were, and by which procedure they will procure them, when they will be delivered, when the expiration date is, and what the vaccination schedule to be followed is.

Ending, he stressed that at no point was the parliament informed of the size of the danger of a biological terrorism threat, or of the policy the Greek government would follow in such a situation.

The two bodies will guard the safety of Europe and will deal with future crises and new threats such as international terrorism.

The number of soldiers in the Euroarmy will be 60,000, of which 6,500 will be part of the Greek Armed Forces. Greece will also offer a variety of military means, according to statements of the Minister of National Defense, Giannos Papantoniou.

Greece will also contribute additional weapon systems, and specifically air-transferable surveillance systems, remote control weapons for precise targeting, search helicopters - rescue and attack helicopters, as mentioned by Mr. Papantoniou - to accompli sh the general target of the Euroarmy.

"From now on Europe will intervene, in which Greece is participating with increased rights than we have in NATO. It is therefore in our best national interest to participate dynamically in it", he stressed.

The Euroarmy will be operationally ready in 2003.

As she mentioned, the issue of a language for international communication must open immediately in Greece, due to the broadening of the EU and because in the next 6 years, 22 languages will be being used on a European level, because of the prevalence of the Internet and the position of our country in the Balkans and the Middle East, where the language of politics and business is English.

"These reasons make the need for Greece foresee, choose and equip its citizens with this tool for communication of the future, imperative. There is the language of thought and the language of communication. I believe that in the future all of the EU coun tries will have these two languages. The language of thought is that of creation, one who thinks in his own language, thinks well and creates. But there is also the language of communication and that has power. Another requirement for a powerful Greece is

this toll of communication in the future. So both are needed and we must constantly invest in our language, which is our tool for thought and creation, and invest directly in and substantially in the tool of communication, which is the necessary weapon o f the future", she noted.

As far as the word "official" is concerned, she underlined that the state must take the responsibility of providing language learning to such a degree that it can become a communication tool, for education and work. "Such a responsibility means a great c hange in the existing system, because a change such as this requires time and enormous investments manpower and structure", she ended.

During the meeting they will discuss the progress of the Olympic works, in view of tomorrow's visit of an IOC delegation to Greece.

The Olympic flame will remain in the Panathinaikos Stadium until December 3. then in a celebratory event, the President of the Greek Olympic Committee, Lambis Nikolaou, will turn it over to the representative of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

During his stay in Greece, Mr. Oswald will meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis at the "Maximos" Mansion, Minister of the Environment, Planning and Public Works Vaso Papandreou, and the President of the "Athens 2004" Organizing Committee, Gianna Aggel opoulou-Daskalaki.

Mr. Oswald will also be present at the usual press conference where he will comment on the progress of the works.

The speakers of the lecture are S. Valden, adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I. Kouskouvelis, substitute Professor at Macedonia University.

They also stated that the stock exchange relation between the two banks will be 7 to 9 namely, one National Bank of Greece stock to 1.58 Alpha Bank stocks. In the share capital of the unified bank, the National Bank of Greece will own 61.3% and Alpha Ban k the rest 38.7%.

During the meeting, they discussed the crucial developments in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Mr. Miller said to reporters that New Democracy is a responsible political party with responsible positions. He also stated that the goal of his visits is not

just to discuss the US polices but to listen to the views of his interlocutors, while he characterized as interesting the views expressed by the New Democracy leader.

Mr. Papandreou and Ms. Matvienko discussed the agreements that are in progress in the political, economic and cultural sector and the latest developments in Afghanistan as well as, ways to combat international terrorism in view of Russian President Vladi mir Putin's visit to Athens.

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou stressed that the two countries will focus on the efforts to strengthen economic cooperation in the Balkan region, mainly in the energy sector. He characterized bilateral relations as excellent and referred to th e regular contacts he has with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov and to the very close cooperation in the political sector, mainly in relation to the developments in the Balkans.

He characterized as very constructive the meeting he had with Ms. Matvienko and expressed the certainty that both her visit to Greece as well as, Russian President Putin's visit to Greece will be successful.

Bilateral relations are excellent and honest and in the past year they reached their best possible level after the visits to Russia by President Stephanopoulos and Prime Minister Simitis and the regular contacts between the two Foreign Ministers, stated Ms. Matvienko.

She added that Mr. Putin's visit to Greece will give an important boost to cooperation in every direction especially, in the trade, energy and investment sector. The Russian official also expressed the belief that the good Greek-Russian relations will ha ve a positive effect at a bilateral and an international level. Referring to the Balkans, she underlined that Greece and Russia share the same positions and this way they have the opportunity to exert their influence for the solution of the big problems i n the region.

Greece and Russia play an important role in the Balkans and they join efforts to find solutions, stated Ms. Matvienko, adding that bilateral cooperation in the sector of energy can be expanded to the region.

Mr. Zafiropoulos and Ms. Matvienko agreed that before the visit of Russian President Putin to Athens in December the proposals for the signing of four agreements concerning the sea and air transportation, as well as energy issues and the establishment of

cultural centers will have to be ready.

Ms. Matvienko reiterated Russia's interest in supplying Greece with natural gas in addition to the Russian interest in the construction of energy and other networks in the Balkans. Responding to a question by a reporter on whether natural gas affects th e oil agreement, the Russian official stated that they are two separate procedures. However, she expressed Russia's discontent concerning the progress made in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, stressing that it does not move fast enough. Sh e stated that Russia is not satisfied with the progress made in the project, adding that Bulgaria's cooperation should become more constructive.

Minister Valentina Matvienko, who is on a visit to Athens.

In their meeting they discussed a number of issues for the promotion of bilateral cooperation on issues of trade, energy and tourism. A special emphasis was given to the materialization of the existing agreements between the two countries, while they exa mined in detail issues concerning the wider use of natural gas in Greece and the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

Of the stocks trading today, 209 recorded gains and 122 had losses, while the value of 38 stocks remained unchanged.

He stated that a typical decision is necessary but the political essence is that steps are being made toward the establishment of the Euro-army a fact that is faced positively by Greece. Mr. Protopapas stated that it is to the interest of Greece both in terms of the united Europe prospect and the country's security.

The party's parliamentary spokesman Prokopis Pavlopoulos pointed out that the move has to do only with evidence in the possession of New Democracy. He warned that those who associate the proposal with the course of the Athens Stock Exchange will make the

same mistake they made during the pre-election period when they invested politically in the upward course of the stock market.

Their talks focused on the development of bilateral relations and the investment opportunities offered in Lebanon as well as the overall institutional framework regulating business activities.

The two ministers signed a bilateral cooperation agreement on telecommunications and postal services.

He also referred to the international developments and the effects of the crisis that broke out after the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States and the war in Afghanistan.

On the state budget that will be submitted in parliament tomorrow, he said that it proposes increased public investments reaching 3 trillion drachmas and referred to the goals concerning social policy and the adoption of measures against unemployment wit h the creation of 300.000 new job positions by 2004.

Mr. Simitis underlined that the upcoming municipal elections is a very important battle and called on the PASOK parliament deputies to play a leading role in the initiatives that will be undertaken.

He attacked the right-wing opposition party of New Democracy by accusing it of populism, lacking an agenda and being unreliable, stressing that it represents the Right that lives in the past.

The Greek delegation was once more assured that Cyprus is ahead of all other candidate countries, and that the resolving of the political problem is not a prerequisite for accession.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Papandreou saw the upcoming Denktash-Kliridis meeting in early September in the auspices of the UN.

"All this will be evaluated in the course of matters according to the results they give and how effective they are", he stressed.

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