the matter and had already sent specialists to Athens. No passenger left the ship since none required to be taken to the hospital. There was full mobilization of the Greek authorities to deal with any possible consequences on the lives of Greek citizens.

In her speech, Mrs. Diamantopoulou underlined that Greece requires a review of its political competitiveness and its political solidarity. The message for Greece is more competitiveness for our economy and the benefit of the consumers, and development an d more solidarity for all the citizens. Competitiveness policies are there to protect competitiveness, not the competitors. And solidarity policies should not be a pretense to protect certain interest groups with negotiation power, but solidarity for the society of the citizens. What we realize today as a need to strengthen competitiveness does not mean the broadening of privatizations and liberalization. In Greece we have practices for the protection of competitiveness, which do not necessarily provide s olidarity for the whole of society. It is solidarity for the few, for small but powerful pressure groups which support their own private interests calling on the "social whole", the "strategic importance" of the branch, the business, etc. There have been such examples in the discussions on Olympic Airways, the docks, military-construction industries, communications, electricity, state universities, etc.

Italian EU Commissioner on competitiveness issue Mario Mondi seemed optimistic that in the long run there will be high growth rates, while he explained that the EU has not achieve high financial growth rates over the past few years due to its priority to

restructure its institutions in order to become a global player.

He called the young people not to be disappointed with the future of the European Economy, and he said that in the EU we talk of viable development with viable employment. He observed that the Lisbon decisions are being materialized at a slow rate, becau se EU member states are placing obstacles in the way. The event was opened by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Charis Kastanidis and the Rector of the University of Macedonia Giorgos Tsiotras.

Also, Eurostat announced that in September the producer's price index in the Euro-zone recorded no change compared to August, while on an annual basis it was increased by 1.1%.

Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 229 recorded gains and 72 had losses, while the value of 80 stocks remained unchanged.

The Prime Minister, stated Minister of Press and government spokesman Christos Protopapas, clarified that all necessary measures will be taken for the social package to be implemented fully by January.

According to Mr. Protopapas, the Prime Minister was satisfied with developments so far. He also added that a special discussion was held in the ministerial meeting on the new job positions in the public sector.

The Russian official pointed out the considerable shortcomings in his country as far as tourist infrastructure is concerned (mainly hotels), pointing out that this reality creates the right environment for the activation of foreign investors in the speci fic sector to cover the existing void.

In a press conference given on the occasion of Russia's participation in the Philoxenia 2003 Tourist Exhibition in Thessaloniki as the honored country, he stated that tourist sector activities have entered a recovery course since the year 2000 for both c ountries as opposed to previous years.

Specifically, the flow of tourists between the two countries increased by 30% in the past two years with the wave of arrivals toward Greece to be much bigger. For example, a total of 133,000 Russian tourists visited Greece last year, compared to the Gree k arrivals to Russia that did not exceed 25,000.

Based on initial estimates for the current year, the number of Russian tourists visiting Greece reached 152,000 at the end of September, while by the end of 2003 their number is expected to approach 160,000, stated the Russian official.

Mr. Protopapas stated that based on the information at his disposal, the ship in question was about to be sold to India or Pakistan and was looking for a shipyard to get rid of the toxic wastes which apparently are on board.

Currently, the ship is off the port of Syracuse due to the bad weather conditions and is looking for a shipyard. No request has been made to come to Greece and certainly, Greece does not wish for such a request, stated Mr. Protopapas.

He added that the Prime Minister and the government are far away from such racial discriminations.

Mr. Protopapas cited earlier statements made by Mrs. Angelopoulou when she denied the press report carrying the information.

They discussed issues concerning the Patriarchate of Alexandria in which Archbishop Christodoulos expressed strong interest, stressing that he will help as much as possible, mainly the missionary work done by the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

On the tension in the relations between the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, they agreed that it should be resolved through dialogue.

Patriarch Petros arrived in Thessaloniki this afternoon to attend the Symposium on "Thessaloniki-Alexandria" held within the framework of the cultural events "Dimitria 2003".

Mr. Papandreou took a tour of the historic Presidential mansion, where President Salvador Aliente was killed. The Greek delegation was shown the special display room of the mansion by the Chilean President, who opened it especially for the occasion.

Mr. Papandreou then met with President of the Parliament Isabelle Aliente, daughter of Salvador Aliente, who gave him a picture of her father with Chilean Nobel winning poet Pablo Neruda.

"We have hurt for Chile, we have had the same experiences, we have sung their songs, read their poems and dreamt their dreams", state Mr. Papandreou.

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