June 8, 2021

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 08.06.2021, 13:55

COVID-19 On Monday Romania reported under 100
SARS-CoV 2 infections, a first in the past year with all its regions presently
in the so-called green zone. 63 new fatalities have been reported but 47 of
them are figures from last year and the beginning of 2021 and have been
introduced in the data base upon a request from the Health Ministry following
the latest checking. Only 315 patients are in intensive care while the people’s
interest in vaccination has significantly diminished. Less than 50 thousand
have been vaccinated in the past 24 hours amid concern that the holiday season might
contribute to the spreading of more contagious variants. Almost 4 million
Romanians have been fully vaccinated so far. 8,500 teenagers have so far got
the Pfizer vaccine one week after the campaign for this age bracket kicked off.

GDP
In the first three months
of the year Romania had a 2.8% higher GDP than in the 4th quarter of
last year. However, the country’s GDP is 0.2% lower than in the same period of
2020, data released by the National Institute for statistics on Tuesday shows.
The IMF experts have envisaged a strong economic recovery in Romania this year
with a real GDP growth of 7%. Pundits have cautioned though that the main risk
of not meeting this figure is a potentially negative development in the
pandemic.

VISIT Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is
today receiving in Bucharest his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin who is
paying an official visit to Romania. According to the presidential
administration, the visit reflects ‘the solidity’ of the bilateral relations
and the fact that Israel remains a ‘key’ partner with strategic valences for
Romania in the Middle East. Talks will be focusing on ways of developing and
deepening the bilateral relations in all domains of common interest as the visit
is coming against the background of celebrating 73 years of uninterrupted
diplomatic relations between Romania and Israel on June 11th. Also
high on the talks agenda are cooperation in the fields of economy and
healthcare including in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, education in the
Holocaust and other measures to fight anti-Semitism in Romania as well as
cultural and other inter-human exchanges. President Rivlin is expected to
deliver a speech in Parliament on June 9th, and hold talks with the
heads of the two chambers, Anca Dragu and Ludovic Orban. The Romania – Israel
Economic Forum is due on the same day.

TENNIS The Romanian-German pair Horia
Tecau – Kevin Krawiets is today playing a Columbian pair made up of Juan
Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Tecau and Krawiets have lost two finals this
year, in Rotterdam and Barcelona. In the women’s doubles, Irina Begu and Nadia
Podoroska of Argentina have qualified for the quarters and will be up against
Petra Martic of Croatia and Shelby Rogers, USA.

CONFERENCE
The head of Romania’s Chief of Staff, lieutenant general Daniel Petrescu is in
Sarajevo to participate in the 14th Conference of General Chiefs of
Staffs in the Balkan states on military cooperation. The event is aimed at
developing regional cooperation by strengthening security and assuring a
climate of stability in the Balkans, by increasing the interoperability of the
armed forces in the region by their participation in joint drills and missions,
as well as by identifying and developing regional mechanisms of crisis
management. On the sidelines of the conference in Sarajevo, the Romanian military
official is going to have talks with Major General Alexander Platzer, commander
of the ‘EUFOR ALTHEA’ operation and with the Romanian troops stationed in Camp
Butmir. The conference, which is held annually, is an instrument complementary
to other regional initiatives aimed at boosting cooperation between nine
countries in South-Eastern Europe – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Greece, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

(bill)