In Brief
BSTDB briefing ahead of AGM and conference The Thessaloniki-based Black Sea Trade & Development Bank (BSTDB) has so far approved schemes totaling $290 million in all member states, of which 60 percent concerns project financing and the rest trade and exports, BSTDB Secretary-General Charalambos Tsarouhas said at a press briefing yesterday. Turkish companies account for 25 percent of the approved funds, Russian and Ukrainian for 20 percent, Bulgarian and Romanian for 15-20 percent and Greek for 10 percent. The briefing, held in view of the bank’s fourth annual general meeting and the third conference on operational activities – scheduled to take place in the city’s Macedonia Palace hotel on April 14 and 15 respectively – was attended by the new president, Turkey’s Mustafa Gürdin, who has succeeded his compatriot Ersoy Volkan. The conference will be addressed by the ministers of development, Akis Tsochadzopoulos, and Macedonia-Thrace, Giorgos Paschalidis, and by Turkey’s Economy Minister Kemal Dervis on Sunday evening. The event will also be attended by many officials representing governments and organizations of member states as well as international organizations such as the EU, EBRC, the World Bank, EIB and WTO. Conference on tourism and 2004 Olympics on Friday The Hellenic Association of Tourism and Travel Agents (HATTA) and the Kalofolias publishing group are organizing a discussion on the opportunities arising in the industry from the Olympic Games of 2004 at the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) building on Friday, April 12, at 5.00 p.m. Participants include James Olivier, development adviser for the 2000 Olympics at Sydney and for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, Dimitris Georgarakis, secretary-general for tourism, HATTA Chairman Yiannis Evangelou, and officials of Athens 2004. The event will be followed by the opening of the 7th Tourism Panorama exhibition. For more information, call 010.922.3522 or 010.619.9400. Kifissias contract signed A consortium of J&P (Hellas) and ETETH, subsidiaries of Avax Group, yesterday signed the contract for construction of the Eastern Olympic Ring project, comprising three underpasses on Kifissias Avenue, at Faros Psychicou, Aghia Varvara and Filothei, budgeted at 39.6 million euros. Of the three, Faros Psychicou will be completed before the Olympic Games of 2004 and the other two by the end of 2006. Building activity Lawful building activity rose 12 percent to 70.4 million cubic meters in 2001 in relation to 2000, the National Statistics Service (ESYE) said. In regional terms, the increase was largest in the southern Aegean islands (28 percent), while the only fall was registered in Thessaly (-8.3 percent). In Attica the increase was 19.3 percent. IBM printers Metrosoft Informatics, a member of the Byte Computer group, will distribute IBM printers in Greece, according to a statement yesterday. The deal concerns the Laser Workgroup, IBM Impact Serial, Line Matrix and Thermal series of printers. EYSE also released figures on private construction activity for the January-December 2001 period, which underscored the sector as one of the strongest engines of growth for the Greek economy.
