Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-08-29

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] GIVEN AWAY BY HIS HANDWRITING

[02] SEVE SUPPORTS 40 GREEK COMPANIES IN CHINA

[03] MORE DETAILS ON THE 17N STRUCTURE

[04] LIANIS AND STRATAKIS WILL REPLACE KOURAKIS AND VOUGIAS

[05] LOSSES OF 1.18% IN THE ASE

[06] FIFTY YOUNG PEOPLE FROM ADRIATIC COUNTRIES IN IGUMENITSA

[07] THE 11TH BIENNALE OF YOUNG ARTISTS FROM EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

[08] BALKAN EQUESTRIAN CHAMPIONSHIP IN THESSALONIKI

[09] MILLER: US ASSISTANCE FOR JUDICIAL PROGRESS IN THE CASE OF TERRORISM

[10] GIANNITSIS-MILLER MEETING

[11] THE CYPRIOT GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE ALLEGED PRODI NOTE

[01] GIVEN AWAY BY HIS HANDWRITING

Both Alexandros Giotopoulos' handwriting, which was taken from his personal telephone agenda, and has already been compared to handwritten notes on a proclamation found at the hideout on Patmos st.and was discovered to be the same, and certain persons of his social circle, some of whom will testify as witnesses, are valuable assets for the police questionings.

According to a Ta Nea newspaper publication, most names are written in the Latin alphabet and have all been written by the same person. Obviously, some were written by his companion, Marie Tereze Pinot. Many of the numbers correspond to people in Lipsi, Calymnos, Patmos, Rhodes, Cos, Samos as well as in Athens and Piraeus.

Meanwhile, according to ET-3, the counter terrorism service is looking into a visit Giotopoulos made to Belgrade in 1996.

According to the same information, Giotopoulos recruited 3 individuals to November 17 during that visit, both Greeks and foreigners.

At the same time, in his testimony, Sotiris Condylis revealed that Miltiadis Evert was a possible target, during the period he held the Presidency of New Democracy.

S. Condylis was allegedly against the strike on Mr. Evert and any other MP. He stated that he was recruited to N17 by a man named Kostas, whose code name was Pontios, and who brought him into contact with Dimitris Koufontinas.

[02] SEVE SUPPORTS 40 GREEK COMPANIES IN CHINA

A meeting will take place between 400 Chinese companies and 400 European companies, 40 of which will be Greek, at the Chinese International Fair in Beijing, on November 7 and 8, 2002, in the framework of the EU CHINA PARTENARIAT.

The event follows the motif of partenariat events, a joint initiative of the EU and the China for the promotion of entrepreneurial cooperation between small and medium businesses from the EU and China.

The event is a major opportunity for Greek businesses, which are looking for partners in China in order to utilize this enormous and full of potential future market, as well as the excellent atmosphere between the two countries after the Prime Minister's visit this Spring.

The 40 Greek companies to participate will have the opportunity to explore, with prearranged private meetings, both the support of the Chinese government as well as that of the European Commission, the development of cooperation with Chinese businesses in sectors such as:

- Sales acquisitions representative branches in both countries.

- Production and subcontracting in China.

- Exchange of know-how/technology.

- Creation development of new products.

- Joint investments.

- Distribution networks.

The sectors to be represented, are: Food production and processing, informatics, environmental protection, metallic products, electrical appliances and technology, machines and industrial support.

The main organizer is the Chinese Council for Development of International Trade, an NGO consisting of financial and trade circles, companies and bodies, and aims at promoting China's trade abroad and the creation of business ties with other businesses in the world.

The coordinator for Greece, is the Exporters Association of Northern Greece, the official advisor for Partenariat events, through which any Greek businesses interested can be informed on the profiles of Chinese businesses that have been chosen to participate.

[03] MORE DETAILS ON THE 17N STRUCTURE

More details on the structure of terrorist group 17 November were given today to the Greek authorities by Patroklos Tselentis, who allegedly used the code-names Alekos or Tenias.

He stated in his testimony today before the magistrate that he got the impression that 17N was made up of small teams of 3, 4 or even 5 members, while there was also a leading team.

He also mentioned that he had met Dimitris Koufodinas, Christodoulos Xiros, Vasilis Tzortzatos, Alexandros Giotopoulos, Savvas Xiros, Nikos Papanastasiou, and at some point Yiannis Skandalis, as 17N members.

According to his testimony, he was recruited to the terrorist group by Dimitris Koufodinas with whom he had met while still in university.

Meanwhile, Nikos Papanastasiou, who also testified before the magistrate, denied any involvement in 17N and maintained that the only thing that could link him with the case under investigation is that he knew Yiannis and Pavlos Serifis and Christodoulos Xiros.

[04] LIANIS AND STRATAKIS WILL REPLACE KOURAKIS AND VOUGIAS

Giorgos Lianis and Manolis Stratakis will replace Undersecretaries of Sports Yiannis Kourakis and Transportation Spiros Vougias, according to an announcement made today by Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas.

The replacement was necessary given the fact that Mr. Kourakis will be a candidate in the municipal elections in Iraklion, Crete, while Mr. Vougias is a candidate for mayor of Thessaloniki.

The two new members of the government will assume their duties tomorrow.

[05] LOSSES OF 1.18% IN THE ASE

Big losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -1.18% at 2.138,18 points, while the volume of transactions was at 85.6 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, only 58 recorded gains and the overwhelming majority of 259 had losses, while the value of 90 stocks remained unchanged.

[06] FIFTY YOUNG PEOPLE FROM ADRIATIC COUNTRIES IN IGUMENITSA

Fifty young people 20-25 years old are hosted by the municipality of Igumenitsa, western Greece, within the framework of the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coastal Cities that will take place in the city on September 14-15.

They came from Italy, Slovenia and Croatia on August 24 and they are scheduled to stay for 10 days.

[07] THE 11TH BIENNALE OF YOUNG ARTISTS FROM EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Athens will host the 11th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean World: Cosmography of Europe and the Mediterranean on June 6-15, 2003.

Young artists 18-30 years old can participate in a number of events on photography, comics, architecture, industrial design, jewelry, graphics, communication arts, illustration, dance, theater, cinema, video, cartoons, music and literature.

[08] BALKAN EQUESTRIAN CHAMPIONSHIP IN THESSALONIKI

Everything is ready for the formal inauguration of the 29th Balkan Equestrian Championship that will take place in Thessaloniki. In the championship will participate about 80 athletes from five Balkan countries namely, Moldavia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

The athletes are expected to arrive today and the championship races will be held tomorrow.

[09] MILLER: US ASSISTANCE FOR JUDICIAL PROGRESS IN THE CASE OF TERRORISM

The United States will not request the extradition of individuals involved in assassinations of US citizens in Greece, pointed out US ambassador Thomas Miller in the meeting he had with right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis.

Mr. Miller told reporters that the United States cooperate fully with the Greek government aimed at the effective court trials of all those accused of participating in the terrorist group 17 November. He explained that the goal is to do what we can to assist the Greek authorities in the judicial development of the terrorism related cases.

Mr. Miller discussed with Mr. Karamanlis issues concerning the Greek-US relations, issues of national importance and the developments in the case of terrorism.

[10] GIANNITSIS-MILLER MEETING

US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller met with Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Giannitsis.

At their meeting they discussed developments in the Middle East, as well as EU-US cooperation on the same issue, under the light of the recent agreement on Israeli and Palestinian security issues, in view of the 4-way meeting on the Palestinian issue to be held in the margin of the UN General Assembly. Developments on Iraq were also discussed.

Referring to the issue of Cyprus' course towards accession, Mr. Giannitsis underlined the success of EU Cyprus negotiations, and he expressed his position that its accession will be completed within the foreseen time schedule, regardless of whether the political is issue is or is not resolved, according to the Helsinki agreement.

He also stressed that for the resolving of the political problem, the Cypriot government has displayed realism and has held an especially constructive position, something that is not visible so far on the side of the Turkish-Cypriots.

Mr. Miller raised the issue of the International Criminal Court and discussed his government's ideas of coming to a compromise through bilateral agreements. He also expressed his hopes that the European Union would not encourage candidate countries to make similar agreements.

The US Ambassador delivered a letter to Mr. Giannitsis, from US Undersecretary of State, Richard Armitage, which asked for a contribution increase from member-states of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in order to strengthen the Agency's activities aiming at limiting the illegal use of nuclear substances.

Finally, he delivered a similar request from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. It should be noted that similar requests have been served to all EU member-states.

[11] THE CYPRIOT GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON THE ALLEGED PRODI NOTE

There is no note by European Commission President Romano Prodi that sorts out Cyprus from the rest EU candidate states, stated Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou according to the Cypriot news agency, CNA.

Mr. Papapetrou stated that based on information Nicosia had from the Greek Foreign Ministry, there is only a document of no significance that was prepared by a low ranking employee in the EU agencies.

There is absolutely nothing that could change the EU stance regarding Cyprus' EU accession course, he added.

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