Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-09-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Kuchner-Bakoyannis talks in Paris

[02] Greek stocks surge 8.68% on Fri.

[01] Kuchner-Bakoyannis talks in Paris

Kuchner made the comments after a meeting with visiting Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis in Paris on Friday.

"I want to say that we support Greece, because we have always done so, and that we also want the problem to be solved. In fact, we want it resolved as soon as possible because we do not want to remain trapped for long - it has already taken far too much time - and hope that we will have progress in the next weeks," Kuchner said when asked if the name issue was discussed.

The French minister also stated that the name issue was a "common problem" that concerned the entire EU and underlined that there was not a single point of disagreement between France and Greece on any issue.

Kuchner said that his meeting with Bakoyannis had focused on a number of thorny issues for the Community, such as the policy that the European Union must adopt regarding Georgia up until October 15, especially in view of the UN General Assembly in New York the coming week and the EU-Russia meeting next Tuesday.

"We talked at length about what can be done and what is provided and specified under the six-point agreement signed by (Russian President Dmitry) Medvedev, (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy and (Georgian President Mikhei�) Saakashvili. This demands major work and it is imperative that we be together, France and Greece," he said.

Bakoyannis expressed satisfaction with her meeting with Kuchner and praised France for "very specific initiatives" taken at a difficult time for Europe and the world.

She said her meeting with her French counterpart had also provided an opportunity to outline Athens's position regarding the latest developments surrounding the Cyprus problem, relations between Europe and Turkey and, of course, the progress of talks on the name dispute.

"It was a very useful discussion. Greece and France, as Mr. Kuchner himself said, have common positions and for us this cooperation is very important," Bakoyannis added.

She also announced that she will make statements concerning Greece's relations with neighbouring FYROM after her meeting with the country's foreign minister, Antonio Milososki, at around 17.00 GMT on Friday afternoon.

Caption: Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis meets with French FM Bernard Kuchner in Paris on Sept. 19, 2008. ANA-MPA / STR

[02] Greek stocks surge 8.68% on Fri.

The composite index jumped 8.68 pct to end at 3,209.26 points, with turnover soaring to 588.9 million euros, of which 25.1 million euros were block trades.

Most sectors moved higher, with the Financial Services (14.15 pct), Banks (13.07 pct), Telecommunications (6.45 pct), Technology (5.96 pct), Food/Beverage (5.72 pct) and Constructions (5.59 pct) scoring the biggest percentage gains of the day.

The FTSE 20 index soared 10.64 pct, the FTSE 40 index ended 4.59 pct higher and the FTSE 80 index rose 4.29 pct. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 255 to 16 with another 17 issues unchanged.

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