Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-06-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] OECD praises progress, urges reforms in Greek economy

[02] About 604 million euros to be provided for culture by 2006

[03] Yiannitsis to visit Baltic states over the next week

[04] Scientists to recover fossil tree trunks from Lesvos seas

[05] Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos arrives in Volos

[06] Thursday weather - Partly cloudy

[07] Greek stocks follow world bourses lower on Wednesday

[01] OECD praises progress, urges reforms in Greek economy

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday praised progress in the Greek economy, predicted high growth rates in the coming years but recommended a more flexible labour market, tight incomes policy and reforming the country's tax and social security systems.

The Greek economy maintained its strong growth rates in 2001, OECD said in a report, but with limited progress in the labour market. The Paris-based organisation also noted that a deflationary procedure seemed to has stopped and stressed that strong company investments were boosting the economy's production capacity paving the way for a more speedier, non-inflationary economic growth in the future.

OECD predicts that economic growth would exceed the organisation's average growth in the years 2002 and 2003 (3.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively), although it cautioned of the risk of increased inflationary pressures.

The organisation said that Greece needed to act stronger to achieve fiscal adjustments in order to reduce its public debt to around 60 percent of the the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010. Achieving this goal needed greater efficiency in public spending and better use of human resources in public administration, the report said.

OECD urged for a restructuring of state spending and for a less generous social security system. It also noted that a radical reform of the tax system was fundamental, stressing that recent proposals on the issue were moving on the right direction.

Structural rigidities were still obstructing creation of new job positions, while OECD insisted that there was more room to better harmonise the country's education system with the country's labour market's needs.

OECD said it was imperative to speed up deregulation of industrial networks in Greece (Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, Public Power Corporation, Olympic Airways), to be accompanied by a strengthening of regulatory authorities in certain sectors of the economy.

The report also stressed that rapid progress in deregulating the country's banking market has improved growth potential of the economy.

[02] About 604 million euros to be provided for culture by 2006

About 604 million euros will be provided for the culture sector in the country by 2006 and will be primarily allocated through the ''culture'' operational programme.

Funds will be used to protect and promote cultural heritage and then for the development of modern Greek culture, the development of the culture sector in the informatics society and to strengthen and specialise human potential.

These issues were raised on Wednesday during the second meeting of the ''culture'' operational programme's monitoring committee, held at the Athens Byzantine and Christian Museum.

This operational programme, constituting one of the most important means for implementing overall development strategy in the culture sector, offers three priorities.

They are the protection and promotion of cultural heritage, the development of modern culture and technical aid for the undertaking and the taking of measures for the programme's management, operation, monitoring and control.

[03] Yiannitsis to visit Baltic states over the next week

Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis departs on Thursday for a seven-day tour of the Baltic States -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and talks with the leaderships in all three of the EU candidate-states.

In Tallinn on Thursday, Yiannitsis will be received by Prime Minister Siim Kallas, as well as talks with Foreign Minister and Alternate FM Kristiina Ojuland and Alar Streimann, respectively. Additionally, he is set to meet with former Estonian president Lennart Meri.

In Latvia, the Greek minister will be received by Prime Minister Andris Berzins, with talks scheduled with Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins, among others. He is also scheduled to visit the Parliament in Riga.

In Lithuania, the final stop of his Baltic tour, Yiannitsis will be received by Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, with talks to follow with Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis.

He is also scheduled to deliver an address on the topic of ?Europes Future? at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

[04] Scientists to recover fossil tree trunks from Lesvos seas

Scientists at the Petrified Forest Museum on the island of Lesvos are planning a major operation this coming Monday to bring dozens of fossil tree trunks currently submerged in the seas around the island to the surface.

The project is being funded by the Aegean ministry and aims to conduct research on the underwater section of the Petrified Forest, which has not so far been scientifically investigated.

Once brought to the surface, the fossil trunks will be transported to the museum, where they will be put on display, while they are expected to be of great interest to both lay visitors and the scientific community.

[05] Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos arrives in Volos

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos arrived in the town of Volos, eastern Greece, on Wednesday at the invitation of the University of Thessaly and will be proclaimed an honourary lecturer on Thursday night.

Vartholomeos arrived at Anchialos military airport and was welcomed by Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos, the Metropolitan of Dimitriada Ignatios and local authorities.

Apart from being proclaimed an honourary lecturer at the university, the Ecumenical Patriarch will also be inaugurating pupils' holiday camps and return to Istanbul on Friday.

[06] Thursday weather - Partly cloudy

Partly cloudy throughout Greece on Thursday with a chance of afternoon rain in the central and northern parts of the country. Northerly winds, moderate to strong on the Aegean. Temperatures between 17C to 28C on the mainland, 21C to 31C on the islands.

Partly cloudy in Athens with a chance of afternoon showers, 24C to 31C. The same for Thessaloniki, 20C to 27C.

[07] Greek stocks follow world bourses lower on Wednesday

Greek stocks quickly reversed Tuesday's rally ending with sharp losses on Wednesday with sentiment in the Athens Stock Exchange undermined by a turmoil in international markets following news of a new accounting scandal with US telecoms giant WorldCom.

The general index fell 1.69 percent to end at 2,205.06 points with turnover a moderate 112.85 million euros.

All sector indices ended lower with the Retail, Metal, Textile, Construction and IT indices recording the heaviest percentage losses of the day (2.90 percent, 2.80 percent, 2.75 percent, 2.67 percent and 2.59 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 1.48 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 1.98 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index fell 1.79 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 288 to 37 with another 26 issues unchanged.

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