Furthermore, he pointed out that everything that was shown about terrorism does not express or stand for the official position of the US government, but is the personal opinion of some of its retired employees.

Mr. Kaklamanis wished Mr. Miller the best of luck in his work, and added that a US Ambassador with his ability and experience is in a position to answer all those that are worried or that are pretending to be worried for the safety of the 2004 Olympics.

During the first formal meeting of the US Ambassador and the President of the Parliament it was agreed upon to promote the visits of MPs and senators, to strengthen the ties of the two countries' parliamentary bodies.

The war against terrorism, the strengthening of the euro, the EU's social policy and the completion of discussions with candidate countries on the Euroarmy issue, were at the center of the meeting.

Mr. Piquet characterized the Euroarmy as a sensitive issue, and pointed out that flexibility is needed in order to reach an agreement.

Mr. Papandreou pointed out that Greece is looking for solutions to ensure the benefits of all member-states, and will create an effective and dependable joint security force for Europe, adding that "the security we have now does not cover our borders, th ere is no such security in Europe, but it covers the needs of humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, which is very important for the presence Europe in many regions of the world, especially the Balkans".

Mr. Chrysochoidis will have meetings with the British Prime Minister and Deputy Minister of the Interior, as well as other officials. He will also be informed by representatives of the Scotland Yard, on protective measures he will have to take in view of

the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The woks of the conference were opened with the greetings of the Ministers of Transports and Telecommunications, Christos Verelis and the President and Managing Director of OTE, Mr. Nikolaos Manasis. At the same time, during today's session introductions

will be made by the US Ambassador to Athens, Mr. Thomas Miller, Ministers of Telecommunications of Balkan countries and the President of Intracom, Socrates Kokkalis.

Specifically, the opening speech of the conference will be made by Mr. Manasis, and then the speech of Mr. John Beale, Head of the sector for candidate countries for incorporation to the EU of the General Direction for the Information Society, will take place.

At 16.15 the speech of Minister of Transports and Telecommunications Christos Verelis will take place. At 17.30, US Ambassador Thomas Miller will speak about the role of the US in the financial and technological advancement of Southeastern Europe.

Prior to that, Deputy Minister of Transports and Communications of Greece, Spyros Vougias, Minister of National Economy and Privatizations of Albania, Mustafa Muci, the Ministers of Telecommunications of Cyprus and FYROM, Averof Neofytou and Ljupco Balko ski, Deputy Minister of Transports and Communications of Serbia, Andrija Bednarik, and Deputy Minister of Communications of Romania, Dinu Malacopol.

The works of tomorrow's session will commence with a speech by author Nicholas Negroponte, founder and President of the MIT Media Lab.

The set and costumes are adapted to the 1950s, presenting the historical background, the political experiences of the poet, and his relation to Tsarouchis.

Mr. Mastakas made a surprise visit to the facilities, in order to record the conditions under which the 150 illegal immigrants are living, as well as the healthcare services available.

Specifically, the representative of the Athens Office of the High Commission of the UN for Refugees characterized the center as a model for the Aegean and Ionian region, and pointed out that in other areas where great numbers of illegal immigrants have c ome ashore, baby steps are still being taken in relation to what the "Posidonio" program, designed by the Ministry of Commercial Shipping and carried out by local government, foresees.

The "Latakia Feeder" cargo ship departed from the Thessaloniki harbor with 9 foreign crew members, but for unknown reasons ran aground of the shores of the Epanomi area, without any injury to the crew.

Two towing boats of the Thessaloniki Coast Guard are participating in pulling the ship free. The cargo ship hull has not breached and there has been no pollution to the area.

The conference, which will end on Sunday, January 27, is on "Literary triptych: Papadiamandis-Sikelianos-Embirikos".

The economic refugees want to avoid deportation and held the demonstration when they heard rumors according to which, they will be returned to Turkey and from there to their country.

The Foreign Minister is expected to brief the committee on the developments in the Cyprus issue and the Clerides-Denktash meeting, the issue of the Greek-Turkish dialogue, the Turkish claims and the Greek preparations for the 2003 EU presidency.

Mr. Papandreou also announced that in 20 days he will give to the political parties the draft plan on the Foreign Policy Council in order to be established before the end of the year.

The Foreign Minister requested a closed doors meeting without the presence of journalists because he wanted to brief the parliament deputies in detail on issues of national importance which include certain sensitive aspects that should not be made public .

The introversion climate is the result of the talk that followed after the statement made by Mr. Theodoros Pangalos according to which, PASOK can win the next elections only by miracle. Also, a role in the situation that was created in the party was play ed by the resignation of Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Yiannis Zafiropoulos and the letter signed by 45 parliament deputies on the issue of the social security system reforms.

Any untimely action is damaging, said Mr. Simitis and added that PASOK's positions on the social security system and the health care system were expressed in the party congress. Mr. Simitis also said that the presentation of different views distorts the overall picture of the party and the government.

The German ambassador met with the chamber's president Mr. Dimitrios Bakatselos and Vice-President Emmanuel Vlachoyiannis, who presented the investment opportunities in northern Greece and the cooperation potential between businesses in Thessaloniki and in Germany. The meeting attended Germany's honorary consul in Thessaloniki Ernst-Joachim Dooring.

Of the stocks trading today, 150 recorded gains and 166 had losses, while the value of 78 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Simitis stated that in the one-year period since the liberalization of the telecommunications market the foundations were laid for the development of healthy competition in a sector that used to operate as a monopoly. He added that the benefits for t he user-consumer have been made visible through the right legislation regulating the telecommunications market.

The liberalization of the telecommunications market creates more opportunities, said the Prime Minister. Mr. Simitis said that over 2 trillion drachmas will be invested in telecommunications over the next 3 years and 20.000 job positions will be created,

while the state revenues have already reached 250 billion drachmas.

The Prime Minister will also meet with the College of Commissioners to present the Greek positions on European developments, the EU problems, and the targets the EU has to focus on. He will also refer to the Greek issues and the Greek EU Presidency.

On January 31, he will deliver a speech in the College of Europe on Greece's viewpoint concerning the European issues.

Responding to a question by Greek Euro-deputy Stavros Xarhakos, elected with the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, the responsible European Commissioner pointed out that Turkey has made little progress in the cultural sector. He said tha t the European Commission will call on the Turkish authorities to adopt the EU Council of Ministers regulation on the export of cultural goods and to respect the directive for the return of cultural goods that have been removed illegally from an EU member -state.

Mr. Protopapas stated that he is in total agreement with the statements made by Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou. The Cypriot government has made a demarche on the issue and asked for clarifications.

The inauguration in the Turkish occupied northern Cyprus of the new offices of US ambassador Donald Butler, held in the presence of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and other Turkish Cypriot officials, caused the reaction of the Cypriot government in

Nicosia.

In a statement issued by Nicosia it is stressed that presentations were made to the US embassy expressing the discontent of the Cypriot government on Mr. Butler's move at a time when the direct talks between Cypriot President Clerides and Mr. Denktash ar e in progress.

In a statement issued by the US side there is no reference to a recognition or not of the Turkish Cypriot institutions.

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