Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday met with the heads of a troika delegation in Athens to review progress of negotiations towards reaching a new lending agreement for Greece. The two-hour meeting focused on all aspects of talks (fiscal, labor, pension and structural).
Ministry officials, speaking to AMNA stressed that the meeting finalized the timetable of talks -which will intensify in the coming days- both regarding PSI talks and agreeing on a new support package for Greece.

The Greek cabinet on Thursday approved a draft bill presented by the Development, Competitiveness and Shipping ministry that lowers the minimum limits for including proposed investments in the 'Fast Track' process, as well as fully lifting cabotage on Greek seas.
The bill also included measures designed to cut down on the red tape and speed up investments.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Deputy Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Yiannis Maniatis on Wednesday held a meeting with United Arab Emirates Special Envoy and Assistant Foreign Minister for energy and climate change issues Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.
During the meeting, Dr. Al Jaber indicated that the UAE is interested in participating in the planned privatisations of Greek energy sector utilities, as well as the search for oil and natural gas on Greek territory.

"Angelopoulos can be counted as one of the few filmmakers in cinema's first hundred years who compel us to redefine what we feel cinema is and can be."

Andrew Horton

The first personal exhibition in China by the Greek painter and sculptor, Kostis Georgiou, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Suzhou, one of the oldest cradles of the Chinese civilization, will be inaugurated tomorrow, January 20th, 2012, in the presence of the Ambassador of Greece in China, Mr. Theodore Georgakelos.

The Chinese Golden Dragon, the symbol for the year 2012 in China, the ancient symbol of power in the Chinese culture, will welcome on January 23rd the representatives of Greek culture, who will bring to China their mythical traditions of dragons safeguarding the immortality – giving golden apples of Hesperides or the Golden fleece of the Argonauts, and will participate in the celebration of the Chinese New Year, in the Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival, from January 23rd to 28th, 2012.