April 2, 2014 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 02.04.2014, 12:10
EU-AFRICA SUMMIT– As of Wednesday, Romania’s President Traian Basescu is attending the EU-Africa summit in Brussels. President Basescu said that the goal of the summit was the consolidation of political and economic cooperation between the European Union and the African states. On that occasion, the Action Plan for the 2014-2017 period will be adopted. This is the fourth EU-Africa summit where discussions will focus on the theme “Investing in people, prosperity and peace” .The previous summit took place in Tripoli, in 2010.
FAO EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE-Food losses and waste can be reduced by up to 60% through education and technology, Romanian Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin said in Bucharest on Wednesday, at the Regional Conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation for Europe and Central Asia. The conference was opened by FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva and Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Participating are over 350 delegates from 55 countries in Europe and Central Asia. A FAO member since the early 1960s, Romania hosted such a regional conference in 1976, too. FAO statistical data show that over 1.3 billion tones of food, worth 750 billion dollars, are wasted annually the world over, at a time when 842 million people are facing famine, hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity.
EXCISE DUTIES– The Romanian government on Wednesday endorsed the measure whereby the state will return to transporters 4 of the 7 eurocents representing the new fuel excise duty enforced on April 1st. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that in this way, transport companies would further be competitive and the impact of the new duty would be diminished. The sums of money collected from the new excise duty will be used to fund infrastructure projects, particularly the building of motorways. The measure is challenged by president Traian Basescu, who said that the fiscal-budgetary policy pursued by the Ponta government jointly with the IMF was wrong. The chief of the IMF Mission for Romania, Andrea Schaechter said however that the economic programme that had been agreed upon with Romania was on the right track.
EC ASSESSMENT MISSION-A team of EC experts is in Bucharest until Thursday to assess the progress made by Romania is such fields as the reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption, under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. During the talks they had on Wednesday with representatives of the National Integrity Agency, the experts expressed concern about cases in which final rulings issued by courts on the incompatibility of certain MPs or authorities have not been respected. The experts also underlined the need for ensuring the proper balance between the freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary. The current assessment mission contributes to drafting the report on justice, under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, to be issued at the end of 2014 or at the beginning of 2015.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF INVENTIONS- As of Wednesday, Romania is participating in the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, the best-known world event in the field of inventions. A press release of the Romanian Education Ministry says that Romania is participating with over 20 inventions and has 3 representatives in the international jury of the competition. Romania won last year’s competition with a plane scanning system identifying smuggled objects.
STRIKE- The air traffic on the Bucharest Otopeni International Airport has been impaired by a strike called by the pilots of the German companies Lufthansa and German Wings. According to the airport board, some 20 flights between Bucharest and the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich risk being cancelled. Considering the strike scheduled to end on April 4th, the Romanian Foreign Ministry recommends to the Romanian citizens to consult the two companies’ timetables.
NATO-Moscow is concerned about NATO’s decision to suspend cooperation with the Russian federation, Russian foreign minister, Serghei Lavrov, said during a phone conversation with his US counterpart, John Kerry. On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that the alliance had suspended all forms of practical, military or civilian cooperation with Russia; he added however that the diplomatic lines of communication with that country remained open. In another development, NATO intends to further cooperate with Russia in Afghanistan, where there is a joint project for training anti-drug officers and the Afghan Helicopter Maintenance Trust Fund joint project. Moreover, Russia allows that its territory be transited by NATO forces that are going to pull out of Afghanistan this year. In the context of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO wants joint military exercises with the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan aimed at a bigger opening to Eastern Europe
UKRAINE-Kiev will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseni Iateniuk reiterated today, underscoring that Ukraine wanted to resume its relations with Russia. There are issues that the two countries need to discuss, particularly those related to energy and two-way trade, Iateniuk made it clear. On Tuesday, Russia increased the price of gas delivered to Ukraine by 44%, thus putting greater financial pressure on the authorities in Kiev that expect an international bail out programme. Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers, Andrii Descita and Serghei Lavrov respectively had a meeting on March 24th, the first at that level since the onset of the political crisis in Kiev, on the sidelines of the Hague summit on nuclear security. After that meeting, Russia cancelled its negotiations with Ukraine at deputy foreign ministers’ level scheduled in Minsk, the capital of Belarus on April 4th.
SPORTS– Romanian wrestler Ana Maria Paval has won a bronze medal in the 53 kg category, at the European Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Vantaa, Finland. She defeated Azeri Patimat Bagomedova, 3-1. The gold medal went to Russian Maria Gurova. Also on Wednesday, another Romanian wrestler, Georgiana Paic got eliminated in the quarter finals of the 60 kg category. Romania is represented by 16 wresters at the current edition of the European Championships in Finland.
