Monday, 30 October 1995
Volume 2, Issue 210
REGIONAL NEWS
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**SLOVAK EXPLOSION UPDATE**
Slovak authorities have cut the death toll from a steel mill
accident near the eastern city of Kosice to 11. Local
residents and environmentalists have accused them of reacting
too slowly to a cloud of carbon monoxide which leaked from the
VSZ steel plant after the accident on Friday. The Slovak
Green Party says the authorities' handling of the accident is
another reason why the government should scrap controversial
plans to complete construction of the Mochovce nuclear power
plant. A VSZ spokesman released a list of the 11 victims
yesterday. Officials had said all of the victims were VSZ
workers, but the list included twin brothers who were
unemployed Gypsies. Residents of the village of Velka Ida,
which lies on the edge of the sprawling complex are asking why
they weren't evacuated until early Saturday, many hours after
an explosion that started the deadly gas leak. VSZ spokesman
Jozef Marko says carbon monoxide levels built up only late
Friday afternoon when weather conditions stopped the gas from
dispersing. But he couldn't explain why another nine hours
went by before the evacuation started.
Kosice is only about 14 miles north of the Hungarian border,
and Hungary says it was prepared for the poisonous gas cloud
if it had crossed the border. The Ministry of Home Affairs
says Hungarian authorities were continuously monitoring air
quality in endangered areas. The National Meterorological
Office said the gas cloud didn't reach Hungary because of
favorable weather conditions.
**HUNGARY TO THE RESCUE**
Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs says Prime Minister
Gyula Horn will step in to support Slovakia's Hungarian
minority if it decides a proposed new Slovak language law is
discriminatory. Last week, the Slovak government approved
legislation stipulating that public sector employees,
including teachers, must read and write Slovak. That brought
protests from leaders of Slovakia's 600,000-strong Hungarian
minority. Kovacs says if their complaints are justified, Horn
will try to discuss the matter personally with his Slovak
counterpart Vladimir Meciar. Slovakia's parliament still has
to approve the measure., but it's expected to pass because the
governing coalition controls a majority of the legislature.
**PEACE TALKS PROCEEDING**
Negotiators trying to hammer out an agreement on Eastern
Slavonia, which borders Hungary, are going to hold parallel
talks in Croatia and the United States. Eastern Slavonia is
the last part of Croatia held by rebel Serbs. U.N. envoy
Thorvald Stoltenberg said yesterday that he had hoped to
finalize an agreement over the weekend but both sides raised
objections to the plan for the region, and the Serbs want more
time. Stoltenberg says negotiations will continue during
talks on an overall peace settlement for the former Yugoslavia
starting Wednesday at a US air force base near Dayton, Ohio.
Stoltenberg says he'll stay in the former Yugoslavia to meet
both the Serb and Croatian sides. Croatian Defence Minister
Gojko Susak yesterday repeated threats to seize Eastern
Slavonia by force.
BUSINESS NEWS
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**CET'S WEEKLY MARKET ROUND-UP**
Central European stock markets drifted mostly sideways this
week. Market players say major bourses in the region will
have to get used to steady or falling prices for a while
before any rebound. CET's David Fink explains in this week's
market analysis.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange edged lower last week after two weeks
of modest gains. Analysts say although speculative swings
ahead of the coming presidential vote are possible, most
players are likely to stay on the sidelines. On Friday the
all-share WIG index closed at 7,846.7 points, down 5.9.
Leszek Iwaniec, an analyst at Polish Development Bank
brokerage, doesn't expect any sharp movements to push the
market out of its "horizontal channel" before the November
fifth presidential election. Analysts say many investors may
choose to hold back, not so much because of concern about the
election but because of uncertainty about how other market
operators will behave.
The Prague Stock Exchange has recorded its fourth consecutive
rising session. Still, trading was sluggish in most major
issues. The PX50 index closed Friday at 442.2, up 1.28
percent. While most issues plodded through the week, the
market was given a lift after U.S.-investor Michael Dingman
announced that his wholly-owned firm, Stratton Investments had
bought 140 million dollars worth of shares in at least seven
firms. As of Friday, Stratton had identified six of the firms
involved. All of the companies' shares jumped on the news.
Dealers say Stratton's move could spur other investors. They
may try to buy large stakes in Czech firms before new
legislation expected to tighten minority shareholder rights is
introduced sometime next year.
Prices were steady to weaker on the Budapest Stock Exchange last
week. Traders say there aren't many signs of a strong upward
movement in the short term. On Friday the BUX index closed at
1,486.21 points, down 31.79 points. There were only four days
of trading in Budapest last week because of a national holiday
on Monday. The shares of pharmaceutical group Richter took
the spotlight. That was due to the announcement of Richter's
January-September results on Wednesday and fresh developments
on the next step of privatization on Thursday. Thirteen point
eight percent of Richter's shares will be offered to
international investors. A 1.8 percent stake will be sold to
Hungarian retail and institutional investors. Three percent
will be made available to company management and employees at
a price ranging between fourteen dollars and fifty cents and
16 dollars. While the mood on the market is still bearish,
hopes are increasing that recent losers, pharmaceutical Human
and OTP Bank, have reached bottom and will start to move up
from their current price levels which are below their 1,000
forint face value.
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OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 211, 30 October 1995
LATVIA HANDS IN APPLICATION TO JOIN EU. Latvian Foreign Ministry State
Secretary Maris Riekstins on 27 October handed over to his Spanish
counterpart, Carlos Westendorf, Latvia's formal application to join the
European Union, BNS reported. Spain is currently hold the EU Presidency.
President Guntis Ulmanis and Prime Minister Maris Gailis signed the
application on 13 October. Latvia is the first Baltic State and the
fourth East European country (after Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia) to
submit applications to join the EU. -- Saulius Girnius
WORLD BANK PRESIDENT IN HUNGARY. James Wolfelsohn, during a visit to
Hungary on the weekend, praised Hungary's efforts to establish a market
economy, saying the World Bank was anxious to help the country
reestablish its economic balance, international and Hungarian media
reported on 30 October. Wolfelsohn, following meetings with top
government and central bank officials, said there is "a high measure of
agreement between [the World Bank] and the Hungarian government."
Hungary and the World Bank are currently negotiating a water quality
project for Lake Balaton, investment in the government's state treasury
system, and strengthening supervision of the country's banks. Two $400-
500 million credits are also under discussion to support entrepreneurial
and financial restructuring as well as other state budget reforms. --
Zsofia Szilagyi
MAJOR GOLD SEAM DISCOVERED IN HUNGARY. A seam believed to contain
several tons of gold has been discovered in northeastern Hungary, Magyar
Hirlap and international media reported on 28 October. The seam was
found in the Nagyborzsony region by Lone Star, an Austro-Hungarian joint
venture. Experts said it could be the most productive mine in Hungary,
where gold mines yielded around 80 kilograms a year before they were
closed in the 1970s. -- Zsofia Szilagyi
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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