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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2002-03-19

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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


MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY Thessaloniki, March 19, 2002

SECTIONS

  • [A] NATIONAL NEWS
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • NEWS HEADLINES

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

  • [01] TSOHATZOPOULOS IN SOPHIA FOR PIPELINE
  • [02] THESSALONIKI WILL SUCCESSFULLY ORGANIZE THE EU SUMMIT
  • [03] INFLATION HIGH IN GREECE ACCORDING TO EUROSTAT
  • [04] TSOHATZOPOULOS IN ANKARA IN LATE MARCH
  • [05] INTERNATIONAL POETRY SYMPOSIUM IN THESSALONIKI
  • [06] TURKISH TRAFFICKES ARRESTED
  • [07] EUROPEAN EXCELLENCE AWARD TO OTE
  • [08] SIMITIS-STEFANOPOULOS MEET ON SUMMIT RESULTS
  • [09] DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY PRIORITIES
  • [10] GREEK PARLIAMENT DELEGATION IN MARRAKECH
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    NEWS IN DETAILS

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

  • [01] TSOHATZOPOULOS IN SOPHIA FOR PIPELINE The Burgas-Alexandroupoli oil pipeline will be the focus of discussions to be held in Sofia today between Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos and the Vice President of the Bulgarian government and the Bulgarian Minister of Regional Development an d Public Works, Constantin Paskalef.

    The issue of constructing the pipeline has already hit several snags, but the deputy Minister of Regional Developments and Public Works, Hasan Hasan, Head of the Bulgarian delegation for the oil company, expressed - in a meeting with the Minister of Mace donia-Thrace, Giorgos Paschalidis, last week - his belief that during Mr. Tsohatzopoulos' meeting today, a final solution will be given, and an agreement will be signed.

  • [02] THESSALONIKI WILL SUCCESSFULLY ORGANIZE THE EU SUMMIT His belief that Thessaloniki will successfully organize the EU Summit Meeting in June 2003, as well as his misgivings as far as the city's hotel infrastructure in view of the thousands of visitors of the Summit are concerned, were expressed in an intervi ew to the "Aggelioforos" newspaper, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giannis Magriotis.

    Mr. Magriotis, who was present at the Barcelona Meeting in order to - among other things - record the organizational demands of such a meeting, believes that fertile ground will be created in the political field and that at the same time the right atmosp here will be formed, so that no extreme actions take place, as is usual during the past few years, at EU Meetings.

  • [03] INFLATION HIGH IN GREECE ACCORDING TO EUROSTAT Structural inflation in the Eurozone has reached its highest level in the past five years this February - increased by 0.1% and reaching 2.5% - according to data published by Eurostat. In this framework, any hopes for decreasing euro interest rates durin g the meeting of the European Central Bank on Thursday, are lost.

    According to the data, Greece has the third highest inflation rate of the "15" - from 4.8% in January, to 3.8% in February of 2002 - while Ireland is in first place (4.9%) and the Netherlands are in second place (4.5%).

    Among the "12" of the Eurozone, annual inflation decreased from 2.7% in January to 2.4% in February, while it should be noted that a year ago it was at 2.3%. For the "15", inflation was decreased from 2.5% in January to 2.3% in February, while last year it 2.1%.

  • [04] TSOHATZOPOULOS IN ANKARA IN LATE MARCH The government's interest in transferring natural gas from Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to Greece, and through that to the European Union, was expressed by Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos, during his visit to the International Tourism Ex hibition in Berlin.

    "We are programming the construction of a pipeline to connect Greece's, which so far - like many other European countries - receives natural gas exclusively from Russia. Russia supplies all countries, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria", state d Mr. Tsohatzopoulos.

    Meanwhile, as is mentioned in press publications, at the end of the month, the Minister of Development will visit Ankara, in order to discuss cooperation prospects between Greece and Turkey, for the expanding of the Iran-Ankara pipeline to Alexandroupoli , so that Greece can receive natural gas from both aforementioned countries and Iran.

    Based on what Mr. Tsohatzopoulos stated, "the pipeline will start at the Greek-Turkish border and run along side Egnatia Odos, and then continue through an underwater pipe to Italy, and from there to other member-states. Greece will give an additional an d alternative prospect of sufficiency to members of the European Union".

  • [05] INTERNATIONAL POETRY SYMPOSIUM IN THESSALONIKI Award-winning and distinguished poets from Greece, Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Romania, Turkey, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy and the UK are coming to Thessaloniki to participate in the International Poetry Symposium on "Poetry as a

    national and international language", to be held from tomorrow until March 22, in the Central Library and Warehouse D of the Thessaloniki Harbor Organization. The symposium, organized for the celebration of the World Poetry Day, will be the commencing ev ent for the New Balkans programme of the Cultural Olympics.

    Participants in the Symposium include poets Philippe Delaveau from France, who is also Alternate Minister of Culture for France, Nikos Katsalidas, former Cultural Minister of Albania, who, at the end of the Symposium, will receive the "Emos" Balkan Liter ary Award, Sean O' Brien from England, Domenico Morina from Luxembourg, Antonio Henrandez and Justo Jorgew Padron from Italy, and Andonella Anedda from Italy, Ataohl Behramoglu from turkey, Ivan Gadjanski from Yugoslavia, Zoran Antcevski from FYROM.

  • [06] TURKISH TRAFFICKES ARRESTED 4 Turkish traffickers, who transferred 19 Afghan illegal immigrants to Symi on Sunday, are to be taken to the Rhodes District Attorney. Among the illegal immigrants were 4 women and 5 children.

    One of the 19 illegal immigrants will also be taken to the DA, in order to inform him of their illegal transfer to Greece.

    The illegal immigrants traveled on a wooden bat which had started taking in water and were taken ashore safely by the Rhodes Coast Guard.

  • [07] EUROPEAN EXCELLENCE AWARD TO OTE The award for "Commitment and Business Excellence", awarded to Greece for the first time by the Greek Company for Business Administration (EEDE), will be given to OTE today.

    This certificate is awarded to businesses which successfully complete all criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), represented in Greece by EEDE.

    OTE participated in the large businesses division with the General District Direction. Three districts were selected in the first phase (Western Macedonia, Thessaly and Ipiros) and their effectiveness at all levels is measured.

    It should be noted that during the evaluation, the company's performance is examined as a whole and along four axes, concerning financial results, customers, human resources and social whole.

    This award, according to a relevant announcement of the Organization, underlines the continuous commitment of OTE for constant improvement of business results through substantiated procedures materialized systematically.

  • [08] SIMITIS-STEFANOPOULOS MEET ON SUMMIT RESULTS The results of the Barcelona Summit Meeting were presented to the President of the Republic, Kostis Stefanopoulos, by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, who visited the President at his residence at 12:30pm today. Mr. Simitis stressed that after the Barcelon a meeting, and in view of the Greek Presidency, during the first semester of 2003, Greece is taking the torch for the financial and social policies of the European Union, and will direct discussions on those issues. For that reason, Mr. Simitis characteri zed the coming year as especially important.

    In statements made after the meeting, Mr. Simitis said that the enlargement procedure of the EU will be completed in 2002, while relevant treaties are expected to be signed in 2003, during the Greek Presidency of the community.

    Immediately following the next Summit Meeting of the European Union, to be held in spring 2003, in Seville, financial and social issues will be set before the European Union, along with business issues. Referring to Greece's role, the Prime Minister stat ed that the Greek side will most probably form the scenarios from which the governments will choose and make decisions.

  • [09] DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY PRIORITIES The priorities of the Ministry of Development for the next decade, were presented by Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos to Greek EuroMPs, during a special event that took place on Friday in the Ministry. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos focused on issues conc erning the energy market and tourism, while he was informed on recent developments that took place in the European Parliament, related to those issues.

    Specifically, the Minister of Development pointed out that the decade afoot will be a decade of growth for Greece at the financial, social and environmental level. In this framework, as he said, the Ministry of Development is aiming at forming common pol icies with it social partners and social bodies, to connect the economy with society, the environment and culture, and to strengthen the society of knowledge with people as its main lever. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos also stressed that further goals of his Ministr y are the promotion of business ideas, the mobilization of the private sector, the utilization of funds of the 3rd Communal Support Framework, and the completion of regional development.

    Specifically on the energy sector, the Development Minister underlined that the Ministry's actions aiming at full liberalization of the energy market, are concentrated on securing sufficient, inexpensive and clean power for the whole of the Greek people,

    and the transformation of Greece into a energy crossroad for Europe. In the direction of sufficiency, agreements with Iran and Turkey are already being promoted, for the further supply of natural gas quantities. At the same time, after proposals made by RAE and DEPA, new and cheaper prices have been finalized for the transfer of natural gas through Greece, which will come into effect in 2003. In the meantime, as Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said, the public dialogue for the composing of an Energy Stock Market, tha t will adjust production and trading on the Greek market, is under way.

    Presenting the priorities of the Ministry on Tourism, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos stressed that their slogan is strategic planning with a ten-year horizon. The Ministry is already setting the bases for the materialization of Greece's new tourism policy, indicativ e of which is the increased, compared to previous years, funds, of 31,107,850 euro (10.6 billion drs), with which this years tourist promotions will be reinforced.

  • [10] GREEK PARLIAMENT DELEGATION IN MARRAKECH An Interparty Parliamentary Delegation is in Maroco, where it is participating in the works of the 107th Convention of the Interpaliamentary Association, which started two days ago in Marrakech.

    During the works, issues concerning the international political, financial and social situation, the contribution of Parliaments in securing the respect and promotion of international humanitarian law, as well as the need to revising the existing global economic-monetary model, will be discussed.

    The Greek delegation is composed by MPs: Floros Konstantinou, Elsa Papadimitriou, Nikos Gatzis, and Maria Damanaki.

    In the framework of the Convention, works of the Meeting of the Association of Parliament Secretaries General, in which diplomatic consultant of the Greek Parliament Ambassador Haris Karabarbounis will also participate, will also take place.

  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS


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