ECONOMY

In Brief

Spain’s Iberdrola buys big stake in Rokas MADRID (AP) – Iberdrola SA, Spain’s second-largest electricity company, said yesterday it will pay nearly 85 million euros for a 49.9 percent stake in Greece’s largest wind power generator, Rokas. Rokas, which has a 45 percent market share in Greece’s wind power generation, is planning to invest over 600 million euros in Greece by 2008. Rokas currently has more than 400 megawatts (MW) in power capacity, 183MW of which are already on stream. The company aims to reach an installed capacity of 600MW in coming years, Iberdrola said. Iberdrola sees Greece as an important market for the development of its plans in renewable energy. Greece has only 409MW of wind power facilities out of the 2,000 targeted by the country’s plan by 2010. Iberdrola has close to 3,000MW of renewable capacity in Spain and it expects to end the year with 3,200MW. The company said it expects to reach 5,500MW in renewable capacity by 2008, 1,000 of which will be located outside Spain. Arab-Greek conference on investment environment and mass media A conference aimed at shedding light on Greek-Arab business relations will be held next Monday and Tuesday (December 6-7) in Athens. Organized by the Hellenic Communication Institute «Leadership,» the Humanitarian and Eurocultural Development Association (HEDA Greece) and the Foundation for Mediterranean Cooperation, the conference will address the growth of business activity between Greece and the Arab world, and the challenges, prospects and influence of Arab mass media. Organizers say the event at the Athens Plaza Hotel will strengthen Greek and Arab communication and business cooperation, and is innovative in being mainly orientated toward the Arab world. CosmoOne growing In its first four years of operating in the sector of electronic commerce and auctions, CosmoOne announced its transactions have exceeded the 1-billion-euro mark. The Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) subsidiary calculated that the total amount of money saved by companies trusting it for their transactions is over 130 million euros, compared to trading in the conventional way. CosmoOne’s clientele includes industrial, trading and service companies which perform complete electronic transactions. Natural gas discount An extension has been given until December 31 for any domestic consumers in Greater Athens wishing to switch to natural gas for their heating with a discount of up to 400 euros. Attiki Gas Supply Company decided to extend the offer due to the great interest expressed. Consumers can have 200 euros’ worth of free natural gas for a flat or house, or 400 euros for a block of flats, to use by December 2005, provided they sign new heating contracts to link with an activated network. Air transport Transport Minister Michalis Liapis today is due to sign a bilateral agreement on air transport with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

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