Athens Olympics chief meets Australian prime minister
As police closed in on Greece’s most wanted terrorist group, Athens 2004’s chief organizer on Thursday told Australia’s prime minister that the country was taking every precaution to ensure a safe Olympic Games. Security has been a top priority for Athens and the International Olympic Committee. Greece has budgeted a record $600 million for security. «My country is preparing very, very, very carefully for the Olympic Games of 2004 because what counts is to host the world. .. in peace, in friendship,» said Athens 2004 chief Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki after meeting visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard. [Howard also met with Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Thursday, during which Greece and Australia signed an agreement on cooperation in criminal investigations. The agreement «will be of particular benefit to the police forces and the government authorities of both our countries,» Howard said after meeting with the Greek prime minister. The two also decided to speed up work on achieving a social security agreement between Greece and Australia. «There is no reason in my view why we shouldn’t have such an agreement, particularly for a country which has provided for years so many Australian citizens,» Howard said, adding that he believes the matter could be brought to «a fairly speedy and satisfactory resolution.» There is a community of about 500,000 to 600,000 Greeks living in Australia. The Australian prime minister yesterday met with House Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, with whom he discussed the ongoing progress in preparing for the Olympics in 2004. Howard was in Greece on an official two-day visit, during which he was to discuss the possible participation of Australian companies in bidding for Athens 2004 contracts. Australia, which hosted the Games in 2000, currently is not part of a Greek procurement agreement that lists countries eligible for government contracts. Angelopoulos-Daskalaki’s statements came as police announced they had in their custody a suspected member of the elusive November 17 terrorist group and had found one of the group’s main hide-outs. The suspect, and a weapons cache found in an apartment used by the terrorists, is the closest police have ever come to the deadly group since it first emerged in 1975. No November 17 members have ever been arrested. The group has claimed responsibility for killing 23 people in 27 years, including industrialist Dimitris Angelopoulos. His nephew is married to the Athens 2004 chief. Athens is receiving advice from Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and the United States on counterterrorism for the Olympics, while Sydney 2000 Olympics security chief Peter Ryan has been appointed as an adviser to the organizers. Exchanging gifts, Howard gave Angelopoulos-Daskalaki an award-winning quilt of a landscape from a fund-raiser for the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, while she gave him a 2004 emblem pin to wear «just over your heart.» «We believe that people, they are the heart of the Games,» she told Howard. The Australian prime minister said he was impressed by Athens’s preparations and that Australia has a «special bond» with the city’s efforts to organize the Olympics. Athens preparations have for years been marred by delays, and Howard said Sydney faced similar problems before hosting the Games. «I have no doubt that it will be an extremely successful Olympic Games. I have no doubt that between now and then there will be occasions when you will wonder about that, but could I assure you. .. that was exactly the same in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics,» Howard said. Teenage dealer
