Mr. Mesic arrived at the "Eleftherios Venizelos" airport at 11:00, at 12.10 he met with the President of the Greek Republic Costis Stefanopoulos, while at 17:30 he will visit the Benaki museum. One hour later he will meet with the President of the Parlia ment Apostolos Kaklamanis, while Mr. Stefanopoulos will hold a dinner in his honor tonight.

Tomorrow at 10:00, Mr. Mesic will visit the archeological museum of the acropolis, while at 11:40 he will attend a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in order to sign the Olympic Truce. At 12 noon, he will have discussions with Prime Minister Costas Simiti s. At 16:00, the President of Croatia will visit the Museum of Cycladic Art, while he will then have successive meetings with the President of New Democracy Costas Karamanlis, the Secretary General of the Greek Communist Party, Aleka Papariga, and the Pre sident of the Coalition, Nikos Constantopoulos.

On Thursday at 13:00, Mr. Mesic and his wife will visit the archeological site at Delphi, while at 16:50 they will depart on a special flight to Zagreb.

For the record, the Eurostat preliminary figures had predicted inflation to be at 2.1% in October, while in September it was at 2.2%.

According to analysts, the downward course followed by the cost-of-living index last month makes more remote the likelihood for the European Central Bank to decide an increase of the European interest rates.

The construction of the church, which was founded on January 10, 2002 at a UNESCO property, was entirely funded by the Cuban government.

Archimandrite Timotheos from the Metropolis of Panama, who is of Cuban origin, stated that the Mayor of Havana citing Fidel Castro's views had said that Havana in order to be a historic city should have an Orthodox church because Orthodoxy is the womb of

Christianity.

Father Timotheos also stated that the Orthodox Christian community in Cuba is very small and specifically, in Havana it numbers about a thousand members, but the eagerness of the Cuban people to learn more about the Greek civilization is great. He added that the love of the Cuban people for Greece and its civilization is being revealed by the museum with copies of ancient Greek findings in Havana.

Greece and Turkey will be represented in the contacts by Foreign Ministry General Secretaries, ambassadors Anastasios Skopelitis and Ugur Ziyal, respectively.

Of the stocks trading today, 169 had gains and 125 recorded losses, while the value of 95 stocks remained unchanged.

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis stressed that the opposition in view of the parliamentary elections will attempt to create a climate of insecurity regarding the economy and the state budget to back its position according to which, the economy is not going well. Mr. Simitis stated that as an answer to the opposition an emphasis is going to be given to the real picture promoting the positive climate and the trust in the economy.

Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis addressing the cabinet pointed out that the 2004 state budget is a step made after a long effort to overturn the latest "trend" according to which, development in Greece has an expiration date marked by the Olympic Games.

According to the new state budget, the growth rate will be at 4.2% instead of 4% in 2003, unemployment will drop to 8% from 9% it is today, and the workers' real income will be increased by 3.4%. Also, inflation is estimated to be at 2.5% in 2004 from 3%

it was predicted for 2003.

Mr. Stephanopoulos received Mr. Mesic at the Presidential Building and discussed issues concerning bilateral relations, the situation in the Balkans and the European prospect of Croatia. Mr. Stephanopoulos referred to the efforts for the improvement of r elations between Croatia and Serbia.

Mr. Mesic thanked Greece for its support to the EU enlargement and pledged that his country will continue the effort for its harmonization with the EU legislation. The Croatian President, referring to the war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, st ated that his country in cooperation with the International Tribunal in The Hague on former Yugoslavia seeks the arrest and punishment of those responsible.

Mr. Mesic will meet tomorrow with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and later he will visit the Foreign Ministry to sign the Declaration of Personalities supporting the Olympic Truce idea.

Mr. Giannitsis underlined that the intentions of the Albanian government will be judged by its actions and that the Greek government watches the developments closely.

Mr. Zeneli conveyed to the Greek government a message by Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano in which, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, is mentioned that the Albanian government and the Prime Minister himself want to maintain the very good level

of bilateral relations.

Regarding the incidents in Cheimarra, Mr. Zeneli stated that Prime Minister Nano ordered the Ministers of Public Order and Interior and the Attorney General to proceed with an investigation aimed at bringing those responsible to justice.

Mr. Giannitsis expressed the Greek government's disappointment over the stance of the Albanian government regarding the violent incidents in Cheimarra in spite of the numerous messages sent to Mr. Nano both by the EU and Greece and the meetings of the le aderships of the two Foreign Ministries.

Mr. Giannitsis stated that the EU General Affairs Council had stressed on September 29 that the free municipal elections in October are part of the procedure for Albania's approach with the EU. He also underlined the responsibilities of the Albanian gove rnment concerning the way elections are held in the country.

According to press information, the Patriarchate assigned a committee of Archpriests of the Throne the task to study the Hierarchy decision and present its proposals to the Synod of the Patriarchate.

A party representative stated characteristically that in the polling station of Drymades, where the counting of the votes was completed with a one day delay, a total of 600 ballot papers were found in the ballot box, while the voters who cast their vote there were just 112.

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