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Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-05-06

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 06/05/1997 (ANA)


MAIN HEADLINES

  • Greece names members in Greek-Turkish `committee of experts`
  • US ambassador comments on Greek-Turkish and Cyprus problems
  • Interpol to discuss crimes against children
  • Kranidiotis calls for further Balkan cooperation
  • Improvement in Greek-Bulgarian ties seen after elections
  • Greece reacts to joint Israeli, Turkish, US military exercise
  • Premier congratulates Blair on election victory
  • Hopes persist for a return of the Parthenon Marbles
  • Model eco-village on uninhabited Greek island
  • Greek ferry launched in Sweden
  • Greece to participate in sweamear exhibition
  • Greek company signs accord to modernise Yugoslav mines
  • Weather
  • Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Greece names members in Greek-Turkish 'committee of experts'

Greece last night named professors Krateros Ioannou and Argyris Fatouros as members of the Greek Committee of Experts who, along with a corresponding Turkish team, will examine Greek-Turkish relations with the mediation of the European Union's Dutch presi dency.

The decision to appoint a "committee of experts" had been taken by the two neighbouring countries last week, after an EU-Turkey Association Council meeting.

Greece has said the task of the committee, whose nature is procedural, is to submit a report by mid-June with the common positions and proposals of the two sides, provided an agreement is reached on certain points.

Mr. Ioannou is a professor of international law at Thrace University while Mr. Fatouros is a professor of international economic law at Athens University. Both are members of the Foreign Ministry's Scientific Council.

According to unofficial reports, the members of the Turkish committee of experts will be Suat Bilge, a professor, and Sukru Elegtag, a diplomat.

Meetings between the two sides are expected to begin this month. According to the decision taken in Luxembourg last week, they will have to deliver their joint report by mid-June on processes proposed to resolve Greek- Turkish problems.

According to the same decision, the joint report will not be binding for the Greek and Turkish governments.

US ambassador comments on Greek-Turkish and Cyprus problems

US ambassador to Athens Thomas Niles yesterday expressed optimism that problems in Greek-Turkish relations and the Cyprus issue will be resolved sooner or later.

The ambassador made the statements during an interview on a private television station programme.

Mr. Niles said hopeful messages also existed in the past to resolve problems between Greece and Turkey and mentioned, as an example, the meeting held in 1988 between the late Greek premier, Andreas Papandreou, and the late Turkish president, Turgut Ozal .

He added that there must be "a decisive policy, good ideas and good luck, which are some of the elements which would promote a solution" to problems in Greek-Turkish relations.

Mr. Niles denied reports claiming that US President Bill Clinton had addressed a letter to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis in which he expresses complaints that there is a delay in the development of Greek- Turkish relations.

"This report is absolutely groundless. There is no dissatisfaction with Greece by the US," he said.

The ambassador added there may be a more active participation by the US in the coming months concerning both the Cyprus issue and bilateral relations between Greece and Turkey.

He disclosed that the participation of a new official from the US is being discussed in connection with the Cyprus issue.

Interpol to discuss crimes against children

The Interpol work group concerned with crimes against children begins a three-day conference in Thessaloniki today in order to discuss offences against juveniles.

Senior Greek police officers yesterday outlined the extent of the problem during the conference attended by delegates from 35 countries and organised in Greece for the first time.

According to Athens Police officer Ioanna Bekiari, who works in the child protection department and is the Greek Police's liaison officer with Interpol, most cases of sexual exploitation of children are reported in the Far East and in Latin America. In the Philippines alone, 180,000 children are known to be involved in prostitution.

Ms Bekiari added that although the situation recently appears to have improved somewhat in these regions, the number of crimes against children in eastern Europe, and in Baltic countries in particular, is increasing.

She added that authorities are not alarmed by the situation in Greece, since only 264 offences of any kind were reported to have been perpetrated against children in 1995.

The press conference also referred to the deficiencies in legislation concerning the production, trafficking and possession of child pornography, since under existing laws, only the public display of such material is prosecuted and punished. A bill is currently being drawn up to close the legislative loophole.

Kranidiotis calls for further Balkan cooperation

Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis yesterday called on Balkan states to intensify their cooperation despite existing problems.

He made the statement at the official opening of a two-day meeting of political directors of the foreign ministries of the countries participating in the Balkan Conference for Security and Cooperation in Northeastern Europe in preparation for a Balkan foreign ministers' conference, to be held in Thessaloniki on June 9-10.

Mr. Kranidiotis said cooperation in the Balkans should be based on principles of sovereign equality between the countries, the lack of violence or threats of violence, border inviolability, territorial integrity, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the respect and implementation of the obligations of international law.

Improvement in Greek-Bulgarian ties seen after elections

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Todor Kovalciev said yesterday that Greek- Bulgarian relations will develop faster after the new government takes over during the next few days.

Visiting Thessaloniki at the head of a delegation, the Bulgarian politician held a meeting with Macedonia-Thrace Minister Philippos Petsalnikos after which he expressed gratitude for Greece's despatches of humanitarian aid to Bulgaria and its support for Bulgaria's accession to European organisations.

He also expressed Sofia's will to upgrade relations with Athens.

Mr. Petsalnikos said relations between the two countries could be further improved, adding that there was a wide field for cooperation.

Greece reacts to joint Israeli, Turkish, US military exercise

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas yesterday said the joint military exercise between Israel, Turkey and the United States could be avoided or restricted "in order not to intensify further the already heavy atmosphere."

Premier congratulates Blair on election victory

Prime Minister and PASOK leader Costas Simitis yesterday congratulated his British counterpart, Tony Blair, on his election to the premiership last week.

"Warm congratulations for your landslide victory, which will bring about a historic change in Great Britain's course," Mr. Simitis' telegramme said.

"I am confident of a warm cooperation both for European unification and for peace and stability in Europe, as well as for a new strategy for democratic socialism and the centre-left on the threshold of the 21st century," it added.

Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis told the Athens News Agency that PASOK has excellent relations with the British Labour Party.

Mr. Kranidiotis said the Labour Party's election victory "will considerably change the scene in Europe and will boost Greek-British relations."

Hopes persist for a return of the Parthenon Marbles

The return of the Parthenon friezes from the British Museum is a standing and basic axis of Greece's cultural policy, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday.

Mr. Venizelos was responding to press questions following the blunt refusal of the new British Heritage Secretary Chris Smith to return the 5th century artworks, better known in the West as the Elgin Marbles, after the British diplomat who removed them from the Parthenon during the Ottoman occupation.

Mr. Venizelos said he would soon send the new British government a letter, written with the assistance of the British Committee for the Return of the Marbles.

Mr. Venizelos noted that while Neil Kinnock led the Labour Party there had been a political and ethical commitment from the party for the return of the Marbles.

He added that he hoped for a meeting with his British counterpart in Luxembourg on June 30 in the framework of the EU Council of Culture Ministers.

Describing as a "jibe" a statement on Sunday, by his British counterpart that the classical sculptures were a part of the British Museum's culture and visited by more than a million visitors a year.

"The return of the marbles does not have anything to do with the return of other cultural items," he said. "It is about integrity, aesthetics and the architecture of the greatest monument of the western civilisation..."

Jules Dassin, renowned film director and husband of late culture minister Melina Mercouri, who is president of the committee for the return of the Marbles, said: "It is interesting that the British Foreign Secretary believes the Greek people should be grateful for the manner in which the Marbles have been kept in England. For someone to ask for our gratitude obviously indicates the Marbles are ours. We are determined to intensify our efforts until justice is done."

Model eco-village on uninhabited Greek island

Development Minister Vasso Papandreou yesterday announced the creation of a model settlement on an uninhabited island whose planning will be based on bioclimatics and its energy needs will be met exclusively by renewable energy sources.

The minister made the statement while inaugurating the three-day European Congress on Renewable Energy (RE) Implementation in a southern Athens suburb yesterday.

Ms Papandreou stressed that the congress must arrive at specific proposals on realistic policy measures aimed at doubling the amount of renewable energy sources used in the European Union by the year 2010, which she said is "an ambitious but feasible target".

Greek ferry launched in Sweden

The largest and fastest Greek ferry boat, "Ikaros", was launched at in this Swedish port yesterday. The ship took roughly 300 workers and technicians and approximately six months to build.

The ship, whose total construction will cost the 'Minoan Lines' company 125 million dollars and will be completed in Norway's Fosen shipyards by the end of November, will employ 350 Greek seamen. It will have a cruising speed of 27 knots and will have a capacity of 1,500 passengers and 800 cars.

Greece to participate in swimwear exhibition

The Greek Overseas Trade Organisation (OPE) yesterday announced Greece's participation in the international undergarment and swimwear exhibition "Lyon Mode City" in Lyons, France, to take place between September 6- 8.

The exhibition will present bathing suits to be worn in the spring and summer of 1998 and textiles for the autumn and winter of 1998-1999.

Those interested in more information can call the organisation's offices in Athens at 99.82.231, in Thessaloniki at 031-26.21.20 and Ioannina at 0651- 32.763 by May 15 at the latest.

Greek company signs accord to modernise Yugoslav mines

A substantial agreement was signed yesterday morning between the Greek company Mytilineos S.A. and the Yugoslav state mining group RHMK Trepca, the state export organisation General Export and the Jugobank.

Under the terms of the five-year agreement, valued at $517 million, the Greek company is to develop and modernise Yugoslavia's mines, along with supplying the latest mechanical equipment, the processing of ores at Trepca's installations and the promotio n of the finished product on the international market.

The agreement was signed at the national economy ministry in the presence of senior ministry, banking and business officials from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

WEATHER

Sunny weather is forecast for most parts of Greece today with high temperatures and humidity, except in the west where it will be partly cloudy, gradually expanding to the northwestern regions. Winds will be south-southwesterly, light to moderate, turning strong in the Ionian. Athens will be mostly sunny with temperatures between 15-29C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 12-28C.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Monday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 272.304 Pound sterling 441.182 Cyprus pd 531.057 French franc 46.721 Swiss franc 185.028 German mark 157.629 Italian lira (100) 15.927 Yen (100) 215.284 Canadian dlr. 196.912 Australian dlr. 212.640 Irish Punt 407.990 Belgian franc 7.640 Finnish mark 52.308 Dutch guilder 140.155 Danish kr. 41.378 Swedish kr. 34.532 Norwegian kr. 38.172 Austrian sch. 22.394 Spanish peseta 1.870 Port. Escudo 1.569

(C.E.)


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