May 26, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 26.05.2022, 14:30

Africa Day. The Romanian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs hailed the celebration of Africa Day on May 25, a symbol of
African unity and the importance of this continent globally. This year, the
African Union has set as theme for the day ‘Strengthening resilience in nutrition
and food security on the African continent’. The issue is all the more
important in the context of Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked
aggression against Ukraine, which has complex consequences, including from the
perspective of food security, for many states in various regions of the world,
many close partners of Romania and the European Union, the Rumanian Foreign
Ministry has said. In this context, the
diplomacy in Bucharest reiterates the call for solidarity, cooperation and
coordination, which must be assumed by the entire international community and
by all UN member states, in order to ensure global food security and thus
respect universal human rights. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that,
in the last weeks, as a result of the war in Ukraine, the Romanian port of Constanta,
on the Black Sea, has become one of the main gateways for the transport of
Ukrainian cereals to third markets. To date, more than 240,000 tons of grain
have been exported from Ukraine via Constanta.

Monkeypox. The number of confirmed cases
of monkeypox worldwide rose to 219 on Wednesday outside the West and Central
African countries where the disease is endemic, according to a report published
by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). 19 countries
where the disease is uncommon, mostly in Europe, have reported at least one
confirmed case. Ranking first in terms of confirmed cases are the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. Most
of the cases were detected in young men, self-identifying as men who have sex with
men. There’s been no death, said the
Stockholm-based European agency. Monekypox is a less dangerous variant of
smallpox , which was eradicated some forty years ago. There are no specific
treatments or vaccines for monkeypox, but the multiplication of cases can be
stopped by vaccination against smallpox.

Gas. Romania can officially start exploiting the Black
Sea gas, after the promulgation, on Wednesday, of the offshore law. According
to its provisions, the Romanian state will have priority in extracting the
deposit and will collect 60% of the profit, while investors will get 40
percent. The first extraction should start in June, through the project carried
out in Midia by the Black Sea Oil & Gas company. One of the directors of
Romgaz, a company with majority state capital, told Bloomberg that Romania
could accelerate its first drilling project in the deep waters of the Black
Sea, against the background of the natural gas crisis in Europe. Romgaz is a
partner involved in the Neptune Deep project.

PSD. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), a member of the
ruling coalition in Romania together with the National Liberal Party and the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, is to present today its
six-month report on Executive activity. The
Social Democrat leader, Marcel Ciolacu, has announced that PSD will present to
the Romanians an ‘honest and realistic’ image of this period. ‘We don’t want to
cosmeticize reality. We know what people’s difficulties are and what they
expect from us , Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

Visit. On
Wednesday, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, was received by
president Klaus Iohannis and met with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the
Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Princess Margaret. He also visited a Ukrainian
refugee center. Prince Charles has been visiting Romanian for 20 years now and
he owns several properties here. He is a major promoter of Romania’s unique
heritage and biodiversity. This is his first visit in three years due to the pandemic.

Refugees. More than 9,000 Ukrainian
citizens have entered neighboring Romania in the last 24 hours, up 8.5% from
the previous day – the General Inspectorate of the Border Police has today
reported. According to an IGPF
communiqué, on Wednesday, within 24 hours, at national level, 75,907 people
entered Romania through its border crossing points, out of which 9,049
Ukrainian citizens. More than 6.6 million people have fled Ukraine since the
start of the Russian invasion three months ago.

Tennis. The best
Romanian player of the moment, Simona Halep, returns today to the arenas of the
Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament in Paris, for the second round match
against the Chinese Zheng Qinwen. The match was selected by specialized
journalists as one of the top 5 games not to be missed. Halep and Zheng have
met only once so far, in winter, at Melbourne Summer Set 1, a tournament that
the Romanian won. Also today, in the second round, Irina Begu will play against
the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova. Romania had seven players on the main
singles table, three of whom reached the second round. Sorana Cîrstea was
already defeated, on Wednesday, by the American Sloane Stephens, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. (MI)