PRESS RELEASE 

The Cooperative Union of The Tobacco Growers of Greece (SEKE S.A.) isparticularly pleased to welcome the former Prime Minister Mr. Kostas Karamanlisas Chairman of the Board of Directors of its Group of Companies. 

For the Board of Directors andthe whole family of SEKE, the election of Mr. Karamanlis in the Presidency ofthe Group is exceptionally honorable. It is certain that his administrativeexperience, his knowledge, his international contacts, his great interest inthe primary sector and the agricultural community will decisively contribute tothe strengthening of the strategic development that the company has beenfollowing with dynamism in recent years, both in the domestic and the internationalmarket while remaining faithful to the values and principles in line with itscooperative character for the support of Greek primary production.

 Who is SEKE? 

SEKE was founded in 1947 bythe great co-operative and political leader Alexandros Baltatzis and is composedby co-operative organizations from regions primarily in Northern Greece.

The company has itsheadquarters in Xanthi and has subsidiaries and privately owned facilities inmost neighboring countries. It is supplied with agricultural products by morethan 11,000 tobacco producers and employs more than 1,000 workers in thecountries in which it operates.

Its field of activity is theprocessing and export of tobacco to more than 30 countries, the production,processing and export of fruit and the production and marketing of qualityGreek agri-food products (olive oil, olives, honey and juices).

SEKE is a model of asuccessful cooperative company that operates in the primary sector of ourcountry, with a profitable course and over time an important contribution to thelocal communities.