Prime Minister and foreign minister George Papandreou will be attending the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) foreign ministers' meeting taking place in Istanbul on Friday, Greek authorities announced on Thursday.

   The premier will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, while after the SEECP session he will hold talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

On Thursday Papandreou met with Bank of Greece (BoG) Governor Giorgos Provopoulos in the presence of government vice-president Theodoros Pangalos, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou and Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping Minister Louka Katseli.

"The problems of the economy are known, its momentum is also known," Papaconstantinou stated afterwards, adding that the policy statements that will be made by the prime minister will be more specific.

Referring to the deficit, Papaconstantinou stated that the relevant figures are available and will be announced, pointing out that the biannual debt figures will be made public by the General Accounting Office on Thursday and additional figures will be announced at the appropriate time. 

Papaconstantinou also stated that the BoG governor makes recommendations and the government makes decisions and implements them, adding that his replacement is not an issue.

On his part, BoG Governor Provopoulos stated that he had an in-depth discussion with the prime minister and the government ministers present, pointing out that he briefed them on the discussions held within the framework of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank annual meeting in Istanbul and on the alarming fiscal developments focusing on ways to solve the existing problems.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Prime Minister George Papandreou