Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-09-08

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TO MEET WITH THE PRIME MINISTER

[02] THE 70TH THESSALONIKI ITF OPENS TOMORROW

[03] EUROSTAT FIGURES ON EMPLOYMENT RATE IN GREECE

[04] THE LABOUR MINISTER AT THE CEDEFOP EVENT IN THESSALONIKI

[05] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE SHUT DOWN OF INDUSTRY PLANTS

[06] MUNICIPAL CITY BUS SERVICE IN THESSALONIKI

[07] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE KARAMANLIS-PUTIN MEETING

[08] EARTHQUAKE OF 4.1 ON THE RICHTER SCALE ROCKS IOANNINA

[09] NEW FACTS ON THE CYPRIOT AIRLINER CRASH

[01] THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TO MEET WITH THE PRIME MINISTER

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet today with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. The meeting will take place at Porto Carras Hotel in Chalkidiki, northern Greece, while tomorrow the Russian President will visit the monastic community of Mount Athos. President Putin is the first Russian President ever to visit Mount Athos.

Mr. Karamanlis is expected in Thessaloniki this afternoon a few hours before the scheduled meeting with the Russian President. His schedule in this year's Thessaloniki International Trade Fair is very heavy as apart from the formal meeting with Mr. Putin it also includes seven more meetings.

Immediately after his arrival at Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport, Mr. Karamanlis will leave for Porto Carras Hotel where at 9:00 pm this evening will meet with the Russian President. There will be no formal reception at the airport.

A dinner in honor of the Russian delegation will be given after the meeting in Chalkidiki and later at night the Prime Minister will return to Thessaloniki.

Tomorrow morning at 10:30 am, Mr. Karamanlis will visit the Sciences Center and the Museum of Technology where he will refer to the Innovation Zone program. He will also watch a digital technology short video on the history of Macedonia and Thrace an initiative undertaken and funded by the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace.

Afterwards, he will visit the National Center of Research and Technological Development and at 12:00 at noon he will visit the construction site of the new Music Megaron Building.

On Friday evening at 8:00 pm, Mr. Karamanlis will inaugurate the 70th International Trade Fair of Thessaloniki with a speech on mainly local issues at the Ioannis Vellidis Conference Center.

On Saturday morning at 10:30 am, he will visit the grounds of the Thessaloniki ITF and at 12:30 pm he will preside over a meeting of the city's production forces to be held at Macedonia Pallas Hotel. At 8 pm, he will address the production forces representatives at the Ioannis Vellidis Conference Center and outline the government's economic policy for the following year.

On Sunday at 1 pm, the Prime Minister will give the customary press conference at Ioannis Vellidis and later he will depart for Athens.

[02] THE 70TH THESSALONIKI ITF OPENS TOMORROW

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is expected to present the overall picture of the Greek economy in the two speeches he will deliver in Thessaloniki on the occasion of the inauguration of the 70th Thessaloniki International Trade Fair.

Mr. Karamanlis will deliver a speech tomorrow evening at the inauguration of the ITF and on Saturday in the dinner to be given in his honor by the ITF management. He is expected to announce measures in favor of the weakest social groups proposed by the Ministers of Economy and Health within the framework of the budget's capacity.

Hellenic Republic President Karolos Papoulias wished success to this year's ITF.

[03] EUROSTAT FIGURES ON EMPLOYMENT RATE IN GREECE

The employment rate in Greece last year rose to 59.4% of the economically active population between the ages of 15 and 64 (73.7% for men and 45.2% for women) according to figures given to publicity in Brussels today by the European statistics agency, Eurostat.

In the 25 EU members employment rate was at 63.3% (70.9% for men and 55.7% for women), in the old Europe of the 15 it was at 64.7% (72.7% for men and 56.8% for women) and in the Euro-zone was at 63% (71.6% for men and 54.5% for women).

The highest employment rates were recorded in Denmark at 75.7% (79.7% for men and 71.6% for women), Holland at 73.1% (80.2% for men and 65.8% for women) and Sweden at 72.1% (73.6% for men and 70.5% for women). The lowest employment rates were recorded in Poland at 51.7% (57.2% for men and 46.2% for women) and Malta at 54.1% (75.2% for men and 32.8% for women).

According to the same figures, the employment rate last year in Greece for individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 was at 39.4% (56.4% for men and 24% for women) while in the 25 EU states was at 41% (50.7% for men and 31.7% for women).

[04] THE LABOUR MINISTER AT THE CEDEFOP EVENT IN THESSALONIKI

The biggest challenge for Greece and the rest EU states is to invest in manpower in order to be able to have societies with more job positions, smaller unemployment rate and therefore, greater social cohesion, underlined Minister of Labour and Social Protection Panos Panagiotopoulos in an event organized in Thessalonki by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Cedefop.

The event was organized on the occasion of Cedefop's 30th anniversary of its founding, while 10 years ago its seat was moved to Thessaloniki.

Mr. Panagiotopoulos stated that vocational education and training is the key to open the door of social and economic development in Europe, a view shared through teleconference by responsible European Commissioner on Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism Jan Figel.

At the end of the event, Johan van Rens, Cedefop's director for 11 years, introduced the new director Aviana Bulgarelli who will officially take over her duties on October 1, 2005.

[05] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE SHUT DOWN OF INDUSTRY PLANTS

Many industry plants close and many others open. Many new job positions are being created and new investment capital comes to Greece, while many programs are being activated, stated government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos.

Mr. Rousopoulos made the comment in response to a question by a reporter during the regular press briefing on the announcement concerning the suspension of operation of the Preveza Textiles Plant.

[06] MUNICIPAL CITY BUS SERVICE IN THESSALONIKI

The Municipality of Thessaloniki promotes the establishment of a Municipal City Bus Service with small buses that will serve the people commuting from and to downtown Thessaloniki. The buses will take commuters from and to the existing parking lots or the ones planned to be constructed around the city.

Responsible deputy mayor Stamatis Karamanlis stated to MPA that there will be three bus lines. One line will serve the old city, Ano Poli, and the other two the eastern and western side of the city. The Ano Poli region will be served by two small twenty-seat buses and one auxiliary and the other two regions by 8 small buses and one auxiliary. The cost of each bus is estimated at 78,000 euros.

[07] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE KARAMANLIS-PUTIN MEETING

Government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos announced that Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this evening.

Mr. Rousopoulos stated that the Russian President is on a two-day working visit to Greece.

[08] EARTHQUAKE OF 4.1 ON THE RICHTER SCALE ROCKS IOANNINA

Seismologists are not alarmed by the earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale that rocked the north-western Greek city of Ioannina this morning. The epicentre of the tremor was located very close to the city.

According to Thessaloniki Aristotle University Geophysics Laboratory the tremor was recorded at 04.47 am and its epicentre was near the eastern part of the Ioannina Lake.

It is an isolated incident not important by itself and therefore, there is no need to deal with it any further, stated seismologist Giorgos Karakaisis.

The earthquake was felt in the wider region of Ioannina and alarmed the local people but it did not cause any problems.

[09] NEW FACTS ON THE CYPRIOT AIRLINER CRASH

The daily Herald Tribune citing sources close to those involved in the Cypriot airliner crash investigation attributes the tragic accident to the confusion inside the cockpit of the Boeing 737-300 of the Cypriot airline Helios Airways caused by a series of alarms that were set off and the difficulty the German captain had to communicate with the copilot in English.

According to the news report, the crew of the Cypriot airliner that crashed near Athens on August 14 was unable to notice the pressurization problem inside the cabin because of the confusion in the cockpit.

The situation, according to the newspaper became even worse in the cockpit because neither the German captain nor the young and inexperienced copilot, as he is described by the newspaper, could speak flawlessly the same language and had difficulty to understand each other in English, the international language of communication in air transportation.

The doomed airplane was flying in circles over Athens for a long period of time and all 121 people on board were killed when it run out of fuel and its engines stopped. The full results of the investigation have not been announced yet.

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