Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 99-04-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou travels to Moscow today for talks on Yugoslav crisis

[02] ND leader launches stinging attack on gov't policies

[03] First 300 refugees to arrive at Pogradec centre today

[04] Parliament to debate NATO, Kosovo on Monday

[05] Pangalos says Kosovo crisis gives Greece and Turkey opportunity to cooperate

[06] Swedish royals wind up official leg of visit to Greece

[07] Venizelos meets Bavarian, Tunisian officials

[08] Kaklamanis-Boehm talks

[09] `Save the Saronic coastline` plea environmentalists as gaateway to Olympics 2004 opens

[10] Woman killed in hotel bomb explosion

[11] Goody's to bring 'Planet Hollywood' to Greece

[12] Eurobank share capital increase

[13] New Russian ambassador welcomed,Greek entrepreneurs praised

[14] Commercial Bank general assembly slated for May 18

[15] Stocks perk up on Kosovo peace hopes

[16] Papantoniou asks firms to help develop Balkans

[17] State telecom to claim over Serbian investment

[18] Yield slips in 12-month T-bill auction

[19] Tourism trade group welcomes gov't proposals on EU funding

[20] Telestet seeks market curb on subsidies for mobile phones

[21] Athens Foreign Exchange

[01] Papandreou travels to Moscow today for talks on Yugoslav crisis

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Mr. Papandreou will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who will be in Moscow at the same time.

The Greek foreign minister will also have talks with Russia's special envoy on the Yugoslav crisis Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said yesterday the Greek government was keeping open a channel of communication with Moscow "in order to coordinate activities backing efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the Yugoslav crisis".

He said Mr. Annan's presence in Moscow was a "fortunate coincidence" which would enable the Greek and Russian governments to make efforts jointly with the UN towards finding a political solution.

Athens News Agency

[02] ND leader launches stinging attack on gov't policies

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Speaking at the Athens University Law School during an event in view of student elections, Mr. Karamanlis said that the education sector was in need of big changes. Summarising his party's proposed programme, he spoke of financial and administrative independence of the third level educational institutions, the founding of private non-profit universities, investment in new technology, student loans and redefinition of the academic asylum.

The ND leader criticised the government's stance on the Kosovo crisis and said that "the prime minister is trying to act the 'good boy' while he should raise the Greek voice", adding that "since the weak prime minister cannot do that, we must all togeth er support the voice of Greece through the forming of a Foreign Policy Council".

Mr. Karamanlis said that the premier had "immense responsibility for the fruitless and lonely course he follows", adding that "Greece and Greeks are not weak, it is the government and Mr. Simitis (that are weak)".

Athens News Agency

[03] First 300 refugees to arrive at Pogradec centre today

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

According to an announcement, the region's military commander has produced the first lists of specific families, which amount to about 300 people at an initial stage.

More refugees will arrive in coming days until they amount to about 2,000 people, which is the number the specific refugee centre can accommodate.

Athens News Agency

[04] Parliament to debate NATO, Kosovo on Monday

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

"The government believes that the debate... will satisfy the briefing needs of opposition party leaders, both with regard to Greece's position in the new period which has opened up for the Alliance and the government's policy on the crisis in Yugoslavia ," Mr. Reppas said.

Mr. Reppas criticised opposition parties, charging that they were motivated by "an anti-government disposition" while the differences between the parties were great.

Replying to reporters' questions on the information provided by the mass media in Greece, Mr. Reppas said:

"The mass media in Greece operate freely without censorship restrictions. Their work will be judged by the people."

He added that the government wanted media to provide "objective and many- sided information".

Mr. Reppas said Prime Minister Costas Simitis had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on the NATP Summit in Washington.

Mr. Simitis will this morning chair a meeting of the ruling PASOK party's parliamentary group which will focus on current political developments.

On Friday, Mr. Reppas added, Mr. Simitis will chair a meeting of the Government Council on Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) to discuss progress in the ongoing multi-million dollar armaments progra-mme of the Greek armed forces.

Athens News Agency

[05] Pangalos says Kosovo crisis gives Greece and Turkey opportunity to cooperate

WASHINGTON, 28/04/1999 (ANA -T. Ellis)

Addressing a conference organised by the "Kokkalis Foundation" and the "Institute of Foreign Affairs Analysis", Mr. Pangalos said that this was the "first conference to deal with southeastern Europe, where Greek-Turkish tensions was not the main subject ."

He added that military crises which last for some time and will create humanitarian problems do not benefit either country.

Mr. Pangalos said improvement of relations between Greece and Turkey should preceed a solution of the Cyprus problem, noting that there are no problems between the two countries in the Aegean Sea, rather only a legal issue, which can be solved only with the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Court of The Hague.

As for the Cyprus problem, Mr. Pangalos said that this was a "real problem" since as he added there are still people who have memories, worries and problems.

He said that the problem can be confronted with a demilitarisation of the island republic in a framework which would guarantee the security of the Turkish Cypriots, an issue the Turkish side proposes as a major issue, while a multinational force could be deployed on Cyprus.

Athens News Agency Athens 28/04/1999 (ANA)

A British-flagged freighter yesterday unloaded at the Thessaloniki port light battle tanks, wheeled vehicles and supplies destined for the NATO forces deployed in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), according to reports.

The "Sea Centurion" unloaded 200 military vehicles, including 50 light battle tanks, bridging equipment and other military materiel. Meanwhile, 310 troops arrived in Thessaloniki's "Macedonia" airport abord two British transport planes.

Athens News Agency

[06] Swedish royals wind up official leg of visit to Greece

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

He said he and Queen Sylvia had watched the anti-war concert in the capital's Syntagma Square from the balcony of their Grande Bretagne Hotel on Monday night, and expressed a wish that peace would soon come to Yugoslavia.

"Such crises with mass refugee movements concern us all. In Sweden, the media make frequent references to the war, but in Greece, due to the proximity to Yugoslavia, things are different," he said.

At a ceremony at Athens City Hall, mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos awarded the King the Golden Medal of Valour and the Key to the City of Athens.

Athens News Agency

[07] Venizelos meets Bavarian, Tunisian officials

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The Bavarian politician, heading a strong parliamentary delegation, stressed that German tourism to Greece did not seem to be affected by NATO's bombing in Yugoslavia and reassured that Greece remained a priority travel destination for Germans.

Mr. Venizelos referred to the progress made by the country's economy, to positive bilateral economic relations with Germany and to the impact on the Greek economy by the Kosovo crisis.

Mr. Venizelos discussed with the Tunisian minister the prospects of further developing tourism cooperation between the two Mediterranean countries, both offering high quality tourism services.

Greece and Tunisia signed a tourism cooperation protocol in 1992. Closer cooperation was sought through the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation.

Athens News Agency

[08] Kaklamanis-Boehm talks

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Mr. Kaklamanis added that the use of ground troops would "blow the Balkans sky high".

Both Mr. Kaklamanis and Mr. Boehm said they were in favour of a political solution which would safeguard the rights of the Albanian-speaking majority in Kosovo without any change in borders.

Describing the situation in Kosovo as "extremely dangerous", Mr. Boehm urged Greece to use its influence to facilitate the attainment of a peaceful solution to the problem.

Mr. Kaklamanis explained to Mr. Boehm the "negative feelings of the Greek people caused by the stance of the major powers of the European Union which appears to have no say in developments but rather is carried away by the US perception about a region with which Washington is not as familiar as we Europeans".

Athens News Agency

[09] `Save the Saronic coastline` plea environmentalists as gaateway to Olympics 2004 opens

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Athens' holding of the 2004 Olympic Games "is about to open the gateways to an orgy of commercialisation and construction activity on the coast," the coordinating committee to "Save the Saronic Coastline" said yesterday.

The group includes 20 environmental and ecological groups and representatives from nine municipalities that will be affected by what they say is intensive commercial development of the region foreseen under forthcoming Athens 2004 Games legislation.

"The shaping of the coastline of the city is an issue for all of us and not just the residents. It is a leading town planning issue that has not been pursued or discussed," the committee said at a two-day conference on the issue at the Evgenidou Institute.

The conference is sponsored by the municipalities of Voula, Helliniko, Paleo Faliro and Nea Smyrni.

Speakers at the conference said the draft law would introduce speedy procedures to cut through red tape and town planning regulations and place large tracts of valuable coastal land, including the Schinias wetlands, the foothills of Mt. Parnes and Mark opoulo, in the hands of developers.

These developers, the committee claimed, would build Olympic Games projects in return for the use of hundreds of thousands of square metres of building space for tourism and leisure activities, such as hotels, residences, shopping malls, nightclubs and casinos.

The committee members say that the bill effectively overrides existing town planning regulations and environmental protection laws by lifting restrictions on the height of buildings in the area. Parkland, they say, will be deregulated to allow for the creation of more intensive tourism- leisure zones which may include heliports and golf courses.

Athens' dilapidated racecourse, the committee says, is preferable to plans to cover the 115,000 sq.m. site with concrete which will then be developed into a complex housing casino, department store and nightclubs.

The 2004 Committee's plans to build a 120,000 m2 softball and baseball field on the Moshatou-Kallithea coast, "will raise a real wall between the city and the sea and destroy the wetlands of Ilisso," they said.

They said the high cost of the project and ground instability in the area, recently revealed at a technical chamber conference, mitigated against the project.

The most profitable marina on the Saronic Gulf, at Alimos, is slated for privatisation. The eventual owner will be allowed to extend the marina, build a shopping mall and develop a fairground on the site, among other things.

Athens News Agency

[10] Woman killed in hotel bomb explosion

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Virginia Konstantinou, an employee of Altec information systems company, was pronounced dead upon arrrival in hospital. One more employee of the same company was injured.

The explosion was understood to have taken place near the entrance of the hotel, 20 minutes after a warning telephone call to Athens daily "Eleftherotypia".

The caller claimed responsibility on behalf of an organisation named 'Revolutionary Cells'.

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas expressed his regret for the victims and condemned the attack, saying the perpetrators "aimed to hit institutions and social development, and to impose their views through barbaric methods".

He also stressed the attack made an "intensification of the efforts against terrorism even more imperative".

Intercontinental Hotel is due to host today the '3rd Economist Roundtable with the Government of Greece' conference, an annual event attended by Greek and foreign prominent personalities in politics and finance.

Police evacuated Hilton Hotel after a further warning call shortly before 1 am.

Athens News Agency

[11] Goody's to bring 'Planet Hollywood' to Greece

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The project, expected to cost approxiamtely 1.5 bln drachmas, is undertaken by Planet Hollywood Athens, a new business formation with the participation of Goody's, Crystal Year company and the investment company of Constantinos Siakolas from Cyprus.

"Planet Hollywood" has over 80 restaurants in 26 countries and draws its culinary ideas from the movie and television world, boasting among its primary investors personalities such as Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stalone, Arnold Schwarzeneger and Demi Moore.

Athens News Agency

[12] Eurobank share capital increase

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The increase in Eurobank's share capital, according to a decision by its general assembly of shareholders, will be carried out with the issue of 22, 092,725 new ordinary nominal shares, each having a face value of 500 drachmas.

The new shares will be provided for all investors who were shareholders of the bank until April 30. One new share will be provided for every five old ones, while the sale price has been set at 5,000 drachmas for each share. The EFG Eurobank's shares will be negotiated at the Athens Stock Exchange as of May 3, without the right of participation in the increase.

All branch offices of Eurobank and the National Bank of Greece will participate in the process of the right of preference in the share capital increase which will last until June 18.

Athens News Agency

[13] New Russian ambassador welcomed,Greek entrepreneurs praised

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The Russian ambassador cited what he called the very positive business climate now developed between Greece and Russia, while stressing that trade and investments could also dramatically improve.

Awards were bestowed to Aristea Mamidaki, the managing director of the Mamidakis petrol company; Dimitris Kopelouzos and Georgios Tselikidis, the managing director and general director, respectively, of Prometheus Gas; Andreas Potamianos, the president of the Epirotiki shipping lines; Roula Levendi, president of the Levendi Hotel & Tourist Enterprises; Dimitris Velanis, president of the Elke Trading group and Olympian Constructions; Ioannis Meimaroglou, general director of Helveco Ltd.; Zigfrid Plakhov, the general director of Transmed Shipping; Fivos Christodoulides, the managing director of Lada Hellas; Ioannis Pikilidis, president of Pikilidis & Associates, and finally, Constantinos Kanonis, the president of the Greek- Russian Chamber of Commerce.

In greeting Mr. Bocharnikov, Mr. Kanonis stressed the significance of the envoy's post in Athens and reminded the audience of about 200 people that "Byzantium achieved greatness for a millennium thanks to its diplomacy, instead of its armaments," an ind irect reference to the ongoing Balkan crisis.

Athens News Agency

[14] Commercial Bank general assembly slated for May 18

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The increase in share capital will amount to 120 billion drachmas and, combined with the 272 billion drachmas recently received by the bank from the sale of 51 per cent of its subsidiary Ionian Bank's shares, benefits for the Commercial Bank will be con siderable since its capital base will increase.

According to recent statements by its President Mr. Georgoutsakos, the Commercial Bank's medium-term strategy will centre on the further expansion of its works, primarily in the consumer and small and medium-size enterprises markets, the strengthening a nd restructuring of the group's companies, mainly in the insurance and fiscal sector, as well as on the extension and restructuring of its international activities.

Athens News Agency

[15] Stocks perk up on Kosovo peace hopes

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The general index jumped 5.51 percent to 3,431.31 points, off the day's highs, combined with a substantial recovery in turnover.

A new round of diplomatic activity in Moscow and Yugoslav vice-president Draskovic's comments on the need for a compromise solution encouraged sentiment.

Traders, however, said that the rebound was excessive, reflecting the market's recent high volatility.

Dealers also said that price declines in previous sessions sparked heavy bargain-hunting.

Sector indices scored major gains. Banks soared 6.89 percent, Leasing was 4.79 percent up, Insurance rose 3.10 percent, Investment increased 2.84 percent, Construction jumped 6.57 percent, Industrials rose 4.30 percent, Miscellaneous ended 6.05 percent up and Holding rose 1.47 percent.

The parallel market index for small cap companies ended 4.88 percent higher.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index ended 6.12 percent higher at 2,157.91 points. Turnover was 113.878 billion drachmas and volume 22,805,801 shares.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 266 to 24 with another 7 issues unchanged.

Macedonian Textiles, Sigalas, Thessaliki and Metka were the most heavily traded stocks.

Sigalas transferred 1,545,660 shares, or 34.44 percent of its equity, worth 1.3 billion drachmas, to Attikat at 3,078 drachmas each.

Electra jumped 12.7 percent in the second day of trading in the parallel market.

Alpha Credit Bank, Macedonia-Thrace Bank, Ergodata, Intracom, Athens Medical, Altec, Gekat, GEK and Proodeftiki scored the biggest percentage gains hitting the day's 8.0 percent limit up.

Daring, Kekrops, Vis, Athinea, Exelixi, Hippotour, Dimitriadis, Desmos, Sportsman and Katselis suffered the heaviest losses.

National Bank of Greece ended at 20,550 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 20, 574, Ergobank at 26,100, Ionian Bank at 17,685, Titan Cement at 23,450, Hellenic Petroleum at 2,340, Intracom at 18,457, Minoan Lines at 7,350, Panafon at 8,135 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,860.

Bond, forex markets quiet in lacklustre trade : Secondary bond trading again was slim with little buying interest seen.

Electronic trade totalled 39 billion drachmas from 12 billion drachmas in the previous session.

The new ten-year-bond was priced at 103.30, showing a yield of 5.84 percent. The yield spread with German bunds was 199 basis points.

In the foreign currency market trade was mostly quiet, except for a flurry of late afternoon activity on demand from London for euros that put some pressure on the drachma.

At the central bank's daily fix, the euro ended at 325.560 drachmas from 326.460 drachmas in the previous trading session.

Athens News Agency

[16] Papantoniou asks firms to help develop Balkans

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

The first meeting will be held on May 3 at the national economy ministry.

In a letter to Greek businesses active in the Balkans, Mr. Papantoniou said: "The military operations in Yugoslavia and neighbouring countries are having a major economic and social impact on the wider region, and naturally on Greece.

"The government's initiative to deal with the repercussions of the crisis and economic restructuring of the region after the crisis need timely preparation and formulation of a joint plan," Mr. Papantoniou said.

Among those invited to the meeting were National Bank of Greece, Commercial Bank of Greece, Alpha Credit Bank, EFG Eurobank, Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, Bank of Piraeus, Thrace Paperworks, Delta Dairy, Asprofos, Medical Center, Intracom, the Federation of Greek Industries and chambers of commerce and industry.

Athens News Agency

[17] State telecom to claim over Serbian investment

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

OTE acquired a 20 percent stake in the Serbian telecommunications company in June 1997, and another 29 percent stake is owned by Italy's STET.

Mr. Mandelis said that damage to Telecom Serbija from NATO's air attacks were not serious and that domestic telecommunications services were operating normally.

He noted that Serbia's cable network remained intact with damage focused on the wireless network.

Mr. Mandelis said that OTE was making profits from the diversion of part of Serbia's telecommunications activity to Thessaloniki.

OTE's chairman said that the company was working with legal advisors and the country's foreign affairs and national economy ministries to discuss the legal base for future damage claims.

Athens News Agency

[18] Yield slips in 12-month T-bill auction

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Demand for the securities was 2.2 times above the 140 billion drachmas sought by the government.

Of the 306.3 billion drachmas in bids, the finance ministry accepted 168 billion drachmas.

Bidding were the market's primary dealers.

The issue and settlement date is April 29, 1999.

Athens News Agency

[19] Tourism trade group welcomes gov't proposals on EU funding

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Tourism Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Monday announced that he would seek to raise funding for tourism to 700 billion drachmas under the Third Community Support Framework (CSF) from 170 billion under the Second CSF.

SETE welcomed both the rise in funding and the plan to make tourism a category in its own right. It has so far been a sub-programme linked to tourism.

In addition, the government plans to give all travel enterprises the chance to receive funding, regardless of size or sector of activity within tourism.

The plans could help to rekindle interest in tourism investments but the ministry's slow-moving bureaucracy would have to be simplified and accelerated, SETE said.

The Third CSF, which spans 2000 to 2006, is currently being drafted.

Athens News Agency

[20] Telestet seeks market curb on subsidies for mobile phones

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Mr. Rovera told a news conference that in Italy commercial penetration was 40 percent and subscribers totalled 16 million despite the absence of the subsidies through gift offers.

Telestet would not resort to government departments to have the subsidies lowered but hoped that the market could come to its own agreement in order to make competition fairer, he said.

Athens News Agency

[21] Athens Foreign Exchange

Athens, 28/04/1999 (ANA)

Parities in Drachmas

Banknotes             Buying  Selling
US Dollar             305.318 312.397
Can.Dollar            205.284 210.044
Australian Dlr        197.919 202.508
Pound Sterling        490.306 501.674
Irish Punt            411.517 421.059
Pound Cyprus          559.488 572.460
Pound Malta           730.565 761.005
Turkish pound (100)     0.072   0.075
French franc           49.409  50.554
Swiss franc           202.482 207.177
Belgian franc           8.034   8.220
German Mark           165.708 169.550
Finnish Mark           54.509  55.773
Dutch Guilder         147.069 150.479
Danish Kr.             43.610  44.621
Swedish Kr.            36.402  37.246
Norwegian Kr.          39.236  40.145
Austrian Sh.           23.553  24.099
Italian lira (100)     16.738  17.126
Yen (100)             253.992 259.881
Spanish Peseta          1.948   1.993
Port. Escudo            1.617   1.654

Foreign Exchange      Buying  Selling
New York              305.318 312.397
Montreal              205.284 210.044
Sydney                197.919 202.508
London                490.306 501.674
Dublin                411.517 421.059
Nicosia               559.488 572.460
Paris                  49.409  50.554
Zurich                202.482 207.177
Brussels                8.034   8.220
Frankfurt             165.708 169.550
Helsinki               54.509  55.773
Amsterdam             147.069 150.479
Copenhagen             43.610  44.621
Stockholm              36.402  37.246
Oslo                   39.236  40.145
Vienna                 23.553  24.099
Milan                  16.738  17.126
Tokyo                 253.992 259.881
Madrid                  1.948   1.993
Lisbon                  1.617   1.654

Athens News Agency

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