The year 2005 will be one of stabilization and a rebound for Greek tourism, but there will be considerable improvement in 2006 and 2007 when the results of the current policy and promotion campaign become tangible, Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said yesterday in Berlin, at the ITB tourism fair. Greece has invested more than 60 million euros this year in its tourism promotion abroad. For 2005, the picture in the German market appears positive as, according to the Touristik Report magazine, the Rewe Touristik tour operator has shown a 38 percent yearly rise in bookings for Greece. Also rising are bookings with TUI, Alltours and Attika Reise, unlike Neckermann’s.

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus plans to reduce tax on stock exchange transactions to attract more investment to the island’s flagging bourse, authorities said yesterday. A proposed change to tax laws will cut the surcharge on transactions to a flat rate of 0.15 percent. Corporations are now charged 1.0 percent, and individual investors 0.6 percent on the value of a deal. The Finance Ministry will table the proposals in Parliament for approval, the Cabinet said in a statement. Cyprus’s stock market trades in the equity of about 150 companies. It was hit badly by a steep correction in 2000, which followed sharp price increases in 1999.

ASE-listed company Athens Medical is proceeding to found its second diagnostic center in Bucharest, Romania, to start operation within the next few months, as part of its Balkans expansion. The company has been active in Romania since 1998 through the MEDSANA diagnostic center, which since 2000 has each year been among the country’s top 10 foreign enterprises.

Uzbekistan’s mobile telephony service provider Unitel LLC is the new acquisition of listed firm Germanos, as the purchase from Daewoo International Corporation has just been completed. The Greek company participates with 20 percent, another 73 percent belongs to Panos Germanos and 7 percent is owned by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Unitel is the second-biggest in Uzbekistan, with a 25 percent market share and subscribers exceeding 110,000 at the end of 2004.

Lambrakis Press and Alpha Satellite Television have signed a private agreement for the founding of a joint venture for publishing magazines. As Lambrakis Press informed the Athens stock market, the initial share capital of the new company will be 500,000 euros, evenly invested by the two shareholders, and is expected to rise to 2 million euros within two years.

NATO newcomer Bulgaria has decided to halt a deal with Israeli defense company Elbit Systems to upgrade 18 of its aging Soviet-made helicopters, a top military official said yesterday. “There is a decision to stop the process, but it should be announced by the defense minister later,” a source familiar with the decision, told Reuters. (Reuters)