"Athens during the forthcoming summer is hosting the best and the safest games, the greatest celebration in the world," Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis said.

He was speaking at a news conference at the end of several days of talks with top U.S. security officials, including CIA Director George Tenet, FBI chief Robert Mueller, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Voulgarakis said the bombs that exploded outside an Athens police station on Wednesday were "meaningless, because we are not talking about blood, we're not talking about property disaster."

Athens has blamed local anarchists for the blasts and said they were not connected to the Games. Greece has received support from states such as France and Britain, but several other Olympic powerhouses, including Australia and Japan, have begun reviewing security plans for the Games.

Voulgarakis said he felt "very confident" about security at the Olympics, which will be protected by the biggest and most expensive security operation in the Games' 108-year history.

He shrugged off concerns about delays in preparation for the Games, which start in just under 100 days.

'THINGS GOING FASTER'

"Things are going faster in Greece now. We have done lots of things in a very short time. Of course there are things to be done, but the point is that we will be ready (by) the time that we have (set) from the beginning as a deadline," he said.

The deadline is July 1. Construction remains incomplete at more than half of the Olympic installations, including the main stadium, and key transportation projects are still being built.

Voulgarakis said Greece would start stepping up security measures next week and they would be fully in place by July 1 -- well before the Aug. 13-29 Games.

Greece expects security expenditures to reach one billion euros ($1.2 billion), which the minister said was four to five times the amount initially planned. It is also almost five times the amount spent on the Sydney, Australia, 2000 Games.

The security plan calls for more than 45,000 armed guards, NATO air and sea patrols, extensive restrictions around Olympic venues and thousands of closed-circuit security cameras.

Greece has also set up a security group comprising the United States, Britain, Israel, Spain, France, Germany and Australia to safeguard against attack. Voulgarakis rated international intelligence cooperation an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, and said he expected it to reach full marks by the Games.

"Find me a country that has spent more money than we have spent. Find me a country that has done more exercises for readiness than we have done ... and find me a country that involves 70,000 personnel in order to secure the Olympic Games. You will not find anyone," Voulgarakis said.