Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-09-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] JOY AND PRIDE

[02] THE COURSE OF THE GREEK ECONOMY IS RELATIVELY GOOD, MORE EFFORT IS

[03] TURKISH MOST FAVORITE AMONG THE BALKAN LANGUAGES

[04] THESSALONIKI MUNICIPALITY DELEGATION VISITS CRAIOVA

[05] THESSALONIKI-NEW YORK WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS

[06] DAVID CONOLLY TO RECEIVE THE HELLENIC FOUNDATION FOR CULTURE

[07] MEASURES IN SUPPORT OF LOW PENSION RECIPIENTS

[01] JOY AND PRIDE

The celebrations of tens of thousands of basketball fans across the country and abroad, wherever Greeks are, lasted until the early morning hours today after the great success of the national basketball team that won the European Championship in Belgrade last night.

Hellenic Republic President Karolos Papoulias stated that the victory of the Greek team made everybody in Greece happy and proud, while Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis underlined that Sports once again is proved to be a major national asset which has to be protected and reinforced further.

Main opposition Socialist Party PASOK leader Giorgos Papandreou stressed that every time Greece is confident about its powers it always succeeds.

[02] THE COURSE OF THE GREEK ECONOMY IS RELATIVELY GOOD, MORE EFFORT IS NEEDED

Greece can play a leading role in the development process in SE Europe, stressed in Washington Minister of Finance and Economy Giorgos Alogoskoufis after his speech in the annual Summit of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He pointed out that the course of the Greek economy is relatively good but a great effort is still needed.

Speaking in the Greek state-run ERT television channel, Mr. Alogoskoufis stated that in the present international situation, the course of the Greek economy is relatively good but Greece still has a long way to go in order to be able to cut deficit and solidify its growth course which is, nevertheless, much better than the Euro-zone average.

Mr. Alogoskoufis stated that still a lot can be done to have even greater growth, limit unemployment and deal more effectively with existing social problems in the country. Greece is situated in a rapidly developing area, the region of SE Europe, and can play a leading role in the development process underway a fact repeatedly stressed in the contacts that took place in the United States.

The talks held within the framework of the summit could help, according to Mr. Alogoskoufis, to have better coordination of economic policies for Europe to be able to follow the performances of other areas in the world such as, the United States and China and deal with existing major imbalances and the risks behind the oil prices.

[03] TURKISH MOST FAVORITE AMONG THE BALKAN LANGUAGES

During the past three years it appears that the Turkish language has become the most favorite for Greeks among all Balkan languages.

According to the Balkan Studies Institute Balkan and Russian Language School in Thessaloniki, where a total of 7 languages are being taught, (Turkish, Russian, Albanian, Serb-Croat, Bulgarian, Romanian and Polish) an estimated 40%-50% of the students are interested in learning the Turkish language.

Elias Merittas, who is in charge of the school, stated to ANA-MPA that the Russian language is the second favorite. Approximately 300-350 students study in the school each semester.

For the past two years, certificates are being issued for five languages namely, Albanian, Serb, Russian, Romanian, and Bulgarian in cooperation with respective universities, while a certificate will also be issued for the Turkish language starting next June after an agreement with the University of Ankara.

[04] THESSALONIKI MUNICIPALITY DELEGATION VISITS CRAIOVA

A Thessaloniki municipality delegation headed by mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos will visit Craiova, Romania on the occasion of the regular annual Summit of the Balkan City Network, BALCINET, to take place on September 30-October 2.

Referring to the Summit meeting of the Balkan City Mayors in Craiova and the BALCINET activity in general, the mayor spoke about the European Enlargement challenge, the development programs that are being redrawn and the problems of unemployment, immigration, crime and drugs.

In the Craiova Summit, the municipality of Thessaloniki will present a number of important proposals it is studying concerning, for example, the funding of the Network's actions.

[05] THESSALONIKI-NEW YORK WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS

A new passenger flight by British Airways to be inaugurated on October 30 will link Thessaloniki with New York with a stopover at London.

The flight will be held five times a week and the round trip ticket will start from 330 euros if tickets are booked by October 15 and the trip takes place before March 31, 2006.

Departure from Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport is scheduled every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:35 pm.

[06] DAVID CONOLLY TO RECEIVE THE HELLENIC FOUNDATION FOR CULTURE TRANSLATION PRIZE

The prize of literary translation enacted by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture will be awarded to Times Literary Supplement editor David Conolly in a ceremony to take place on October 3 at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. He will receive the prize for the translation of the book The Dedalus Book of Greek Fantasy from Greek into English.

The book includes texts by 30 Greek authors of the 19th and 20th centuries ranging from Kavafis and Papadiamantis to Karkavitsas and Kontoglou, Kurtovik, Maragopoulos and Panagiotopoulos. The selection of the authors was made on the basis of their occupation with the imaginary. The collection is part of a series by the Dedalus Printing House which has also published relevant collections dedicated to authors from Spain, Portugal, Poland, Austria and United Kingdom.

For the record, this is the second Hellenic Foundation for Culture literary translation prize. The first was given within the framework of a two-day conference on literary translation in September 2002 to translator Leo Marshall for the translation of the book May Your Name Be Blessed by Sotiris Dimitriou.

David Conolly has lived and worked in Greece for over twenty years. He was formerly Head of Translation at the British Council in Athens and lecturer in literary translation at the Ionian University. At present he is teaching in the post-graduate programme in translation at the University of Athens.

He has published numerous translations of leading Greek poets and novelists including Nikiforos Vrettakos, Odysseas Elytis, Kiki Dimoula, Nikos Engonopoulos etc, and his translations have won awards in Greece, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1998, he acquired Greek citizenship.

[07] MEASURES IN SUPPORT OF LOW PENSION RECIPIENTS

Minister of Finance Giorgos Alogoskoufis in a press conference he gave in Washington announced measures included in the 2006 state budget aimed at supporting low pension recipients.

He pointed out that the government will take measures for the improvement of the living standards of the weak social groups as it did last year.

For the record, the OGA and EKAS pensions in 2005 were two times higher than the then inflation rate.

The main axis of the contacts Mr. Alogoskoufis had in the US capital was the promotion of Greece as a gateway for investments in the region of SE Europe.

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