February 4, 2018
Romanian Naval Forces to be modernised
Newsroom, 04.02.2018, 13:48
NAVY – The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor has said that the modernisation of the country’s Naval Forces can no longer be postponed, and the equipping programmes start from the negotiable condition that the state-of-the-art technology is manufactured in Romania. Previously, Mihai Fifor said that 2018 would be a year devoted to the equipping of the Romanian Naval Forces. Fifor also said that a project would be presented at Wednesday’s government meeting, regarding the purchase of four multifunctional corvettes. The contract could be signed until the end of the year, and the corvettes are to be produced in Romania. The Naval Forces’ two frigates will also be upgraded.
COOPERATION – The British Ambassador in Bucharest, Paul Brummel, says that the presence in Constanta, in south-eastern Romania, of the Standing NATO Maritime Groups, that also include two British ships, sends a strong safety signal for navigation on the Black Sea. The British military are supporting their Romanian colleagues in guaranteeing the security of Europe and its allies, the British Ambassador also said. Brummel has pointed out that 2017 was the most intense year in the history of the Romanian-British defense cooperation. He also mentioned the two visits of the “Duncan” destroyer to Constanta, the dispatch at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base of four Typhoon aircraft, to contribute to the security of NATO’s airspace, and the participation of one thousand British military in Romanian-British joint military drills.
COMMEMORATION — The memory of the great Romanian politician Iuliu Maniu, is today honoured in his native village, Badacin, in Salaj county, north-western Romania. A series of commemorative events are held in Badacin, which are also part of a public campaign of raising funds for the refurbishment of the Iuliu Maniu Memorial Huse. Commemoration events to mark 65 years since the death Iuliu Maniu started on Saturday at the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to Resistance in Sighet (northwestern Romania). The political personality of the leader of the National Peasant Party, who was Romania’s prime minister in the interwar period and also a member of the Romanian Academy, was evoked in a number of speeches and papers presented during the events. An activist for union, a promoter of democratic principles and an adversary of Communism and Nazism, Iuliu Maniu was arrested in 1947 by the regime instated by the Soviet occupation and died in 1953 at the age of 80 in the Sighet prison, where most of the former Democratic dignitaries were detained.
CHEVRON – The American oil company Chevron will pay to the National Agency for Mineral Resources in Romania around 74 million dollars following the annulment of three oil concession agreements without observing the financial obligations stipulated by the oil law, the Romanian government announced Saturday in a press release. The decision was made by the International Court of Arbitration, a branch of the International Chamber of Commerce based in Paris, which was asked to solve the conflict between Chevron and Romania’s National Agency for Mineral Resources. In 2011, the two sides concluded three concession agreements for exploitation, development and exploration in certain areas in southeastern Romania, which three years later Chevron decided to terminate.
TENNIS — The Romanian men’s tennis team leads Luxembourg, 2-1, after the pair Florin Mergea/Horia Tecău defeated Ugo Nastasi/Christophe Tholl, 6-0 6-1, in the first round of Europe/ Africa Zone Group II of the Davis Cup. In the last two singles’ matches Copil will play against Nastasi and Frunza against Tholl. In the first singles match on Saturday Ugo Nastasi of Luxembourg defeated the Romanian tennis player Nicolae Frunza 7-6, 1-6, 6-3. In the second match, Marius Copil defeated Christhope Tholl 6-3, 6-2. The Davis Cup matches unfold according to the new format announced by the International Tennis Federation with matches consisting of maximum 3 sets being played for two days not three, as has happened so far. Romania was demoted last year to Group I for the first time after 1993, after it lost the match against Israel 0-5. detained. (Translated by Elena Enache)
