This Week
TUESDAY President Costis Stephanopoulos begins a three-day official visit to Kazakhstan. He will be accompanied by deputy foreign ministers Andreas Loverdos and Yiannis Magriotis. – Foreign Minister George Papandreou visits Istanbul for celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council. He returns later the same day. – Fourth round of Greek-Turkish exploratory talks is held in Istanbul. The general secretaries of the Greek and Turkish foreign ministries will represent their countries. – Social Security Foundation (IKA) doctors stage a 24-hour strike demanding permanent employment for 5,500 colleagues on short-term contracts and more bonuses. – Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys to inaugurate the Biotechnology Laboratory of the National Foundation for Agriculture Research (ETIAGE) in Lykovryssi. – Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash meet again in UN-mediated talks aimed at ending the island’s division. WEDNESDAY International Olympic Committee (IOC) coordinating commission pays official two-day visit to inspect progress in the Athens 2004 preparations. – The Foreign Press Association hosts a luncheon in honor of National Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis. At the Caravel Hotel. Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios pays a visit to Volos, where he is to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessaly. To Thursday. – The Greek Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and the Foreign Ministry’s Department for International Development Cooperation are organizing a conference on the activities of the Human Safety Network. For details, tel. 010.331.5022. – National Council Against Narcotics to hold a gathering outside the old university on Panepistimiou Street at 6.30 p.m. and a march to Parliament and the UN offices on Amalias Avenue. THURSDAY British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce luncheon on «Economy in a new era,» at the Aegli, Zappeion Mansion, at 1.30 p.m. Dimitris Sioufas, secretary-general of the conservative New Democracy party’s parliamentary group and a former health minister, will speak. Tel. 010.721.0361. – State hospital doctors in Athens stage a 48-hour strike over pay, pension and social security demands. – EU agriculture ministers meet in Luxembourg. Greece’s bid to exclusive rights to name cheese as «feta» will top the agenda. – Annual conference of journalists begins on northern Aegean island of Samothrace. This year the topic is «The New Landscape for the Mass Media in Greece and the European Image of Journalism.» To June 30. – The union of Greek Olympic medalists and the local authorities of Ancient Olympia are holding a two-day event in Ancient Olympia to promote volunteerism for the 2004 Olympic Games. FRIDAY Prime Minister Costas Simitis will pay a two-day visit to Arta and Preveza in western Greece. – Social Security Foundation (IKA) doctors stage another 24-hour strike.
