Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-03-04

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

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece hails EU agreement on Community patent system

[02] Greek participation in ''EU Gateway to Japan'' programme

[03] Human resources depts. in Greece need upgrade, report says

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[05] Weather Forecast: Cloud, rain on Wednesday

[06] Greek stocks plunge to new five-year lows

[01] Greece hails EU agreement on Community patent system

The Greek government on Tuesday hailed the political agreement on a European patent system, accomplished in Brussels the previous day at the European Union's council on fair competition chaired by Greek development minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, currently the presiding minister in office.

''The settlement of a perennial issue regarding the establishment of a Community patent is a very significant development'', Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas said, adding ''this new institution boosts the integration of the internal market, reduces the cost of businesses in safeguarding their innovations and reinforces protection to small-medium-size enterprises since now they can apply for direct protection in the market of '15' plus '10' member states''.

Protopapas said that the agreement was accomplished after Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis contacted his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi on the phone so that Italy would withdraw certain objections it had raised on the subject.

[02] Greek participation in ''EU Gateway to Japan'' programme

Greece began implementing this year a third community programme to promoting European exports to Japan under the name ''EU Gateway to Japan'', funded and managed by the European Commission and aiming to boost trade between the EU and Japan.

The programme, with a duration of four years, is an extension of two previous similar programmes (1994-1996 and 1997-2001) and will have two co-organisers, the European Commission and the EuroChambers Union. National chambers unions will participate in preparation and support procedures in the programme.

A total of 880 European Union's small- and medium-sized enterprises have benefited from the two previous programmes (of which 87 were Greek).

The new programme envisages a total of 32 trade events, one for each sector annually. A total of 25 selected EU enterprises (and 45 for the food and beverage sector) will participate in each weekly event.

The eight sectors selected for this new campaign are: food and beverage, medical-pharmaceutical equipment, building material, IT and communications technology, environment technology, outdoor life and entertainment equipment, interior lifestyle, fashion and new designers.

[03] Human resources depts. in Greece need upgrade, report says

The role of human resources departments in Greek companies need upgrading, according to the findings of a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers released on Tuesday.

Taking part in the survey were 105 heads of human resources departments around the country.

Main corporate priorities in 2002 were raising profitability, lowering costs, satisfying customers, and the development of new products, according to the directors polled.

At the same time, the priorities of human resources departments of the same companies were training and developing staff, improving communication, changing corporate culture, and evaluating staff performance, in that order of importance, the directors said.

The human resources departments surveyed did not tackle the areas of leadership skills and development of labour relations.

The departments were not found to play a role in helping to forge corporate strategy, or in taking part in critical decision-making in times of change; and the priorities of general management did not coincide with those of human resources departments.

Finally, although in 71 percent of the companies surveyed human resources directors ranked as senior management, their role appeared to be for reasons of convention and lacking substance, the survey showed.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.100

Pound sterling 0.695

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.266

Japanese yen 129.4

Swiss franc 1.471

Norwegian kroner 7.839

Cyprus pound 0.585

Canadian dollar 1.633

Australian dollar 1.795

[05] Weather Forecast: Cloud, rain on Wednesday

Cloud, rain and storms are forecast in most parts of the country, with the west remaining dry. Snow will fall on high ground on the mainland. Winds variable, strong to very strong, turning gale force in the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 2C to 10C; on the rest of the mainland from 5C to 12C; and in the islands from 8C to 14C. Temperatures in Athens between 6C and 12C; and in Thessaloniki from 4C to 10C.

[06] Greek stocks plunge to new five-year lows

Greek stocks plunged to new five-year lows in the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, as a negative climate in international markets led to massive liquidation of stocks holdings in the Greek bourse.

The general index dropped 2.60 percent to end at 1,570.03 points, breaking the 1,600 support level, after negative comments for selected blue chips, like Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation and Commercial Bank, made by international investment banks.

Hellenic Telecom's shares fell 5.43 percent as US funds liquidated holding pushing its share price to new record lows.

Turnover was an improved 100.5 million euros.

The Textile, IT, Construction and Telecommunications sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (5.49 percent, 5.46 percent, 3.73 percent and 3.48 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 2.78 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 2.04 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 3.45 percent down. The wider FTSE/ASE 140 index fell 2.72 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 320 to 21 with another 21 issues unchanged.

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