The First Week in July in Review

PM: priority to reforms, illegal migration

(ANA-MPA)  The Greek government's priorities are to accelerate reforms and tackle illegal immigration, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said on Monday as he delivered the opening address at a European Peoples' Party (EPP) Group Study Days meeting taking place in Athens. He stressed the need to share out the burden of dealing with illegal immigrants more fairly among EU countries.

Papandreou opens SI meeting in Montenegro

(ANA-MPA) A Socialist International (SI) council meeting opened in Montenegro on Monday with an address by SI president and Greek main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou. The global financial crisis, climate change, illegal migration and regional crises are at the top of the agenda of the SI meeting being held in the town of Budva.

Crucial OSCE ministerial summit concludes on Corfu

(ANA-MPA)  A closely watched Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) informal meeting of foreign ministers concluded on the Ionian island of Corfu on Sunday, presided by Greek FM Dora Bakoyannis, as Greece holds the OSCE chairmanship for 2009. The OSCE conference comes on the heels of a NATO-Russia ministerial meeting on Saturday, during which the two sides agreed to resume formal cooperation on a broad range of security issues in their first high-level meeting since the crisis in Georgia.

Greece-Canada accord

(ANA-MPA) Greece and Canada signed a bilateral agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Income or Capital and the Prevention of Tax Evasion.

Athens' policy goal for the informal Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) foreign ministers' council in Corfu over the weekend was to enhance and strengthen mechanisms for step-by-step dialogue to deal with old and new conflicts, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, the summit's host, stressed at its conclusion on Sunday.

Bakoyannis, speaking at a press conference following the summit on the Ionian island, also emphasised that Greece's goal -- as the chair of the 2009 OSCE president -- is to consolidate Europe's security and prosperity, "in our neighbourhood, and all the way to Vancouver and Vladivostok."

NATO Chief 'Back to Work'

(ANA-MPA)  NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer encapsulated the outcome of the NATO-Russia foreign ministers meeting on Corfu in the phrase 'Back to Work'

Athens Newspaper Headlines

(ANA-MPA) The OSCE and NATO-Russia meetings on Corfu and speculation of early general elections by March were the main front-page items in Monday's newspapers.

Greece-Canada accord

(ANA-MPA) Foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis and her Canadian counterpart Lawrence Cannon on Monday signed in Athens a bilateral agreement between Greece and Canada on the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Income or Capital and the Prevention of Tax Evasion.