November 1, 2018

Radio Romania celebrates nine decades on the air; Romania takes over the presidency of the Danube Strategy

Bogdan Matei, 01.11.2018, 14:01

RADIO – Radio Romania celebrates 90 years on the air on 1 November. Festive events include a special concert by the National Radio Orchestra with the Academic Choir and the Radio Childrens Choir, under the baton of Cristian Mandeal. Also today, national radio will broadcast the first episode of the first radio sitcom in Romania, called Somewhere in 28.

DANUBE – Romania takes over for a year the rotating presidency of the EU Danube Strategy, a term that runs out on 31 October 2019. The organization has four principal targets, connecting regions in the Danube areas, protecting the environment, increasing prosperity in the Danube region, and consolidating the area around 11 priority zones. Romania plans to promote a number of topics and actions during its term. One of them is improving connectivity and mobility in the Danube region by promoting transportation, tourism, digitization, and human contact. Romania also plans to promote priority domains, such as close collaboration with public administration, community actors, academia, and business.

BUCHAREST — Romanian head of state Klaus Iohannis meets in Bucharest on Thursday his Swiss counterpart, Alain Berset, who is an official state visit to Romania. According to the presidency, the talks are centered on bilateral relations, European issues, and the Swiss contribution to EU cohesion funds, in addition to regional topics. The visit comes against enhanced dialog between the two countries as Romania prepares to take over the presidency of the EU Council over the first half of 2019. On this occasion, President Iohannis will present his countrys priorities in that position, assuring the Swiss side that Romania would support and promote an open and constructive dialog in all aspects of cooperation.

SOFIA — Romanian PM Viorica Dancila attends in Bulgaria a new summit between Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. The working lunch also hosts the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The office of the Prime Minister said that the meeting in Varna promotes debate in regional interconnection, with an emphasis on transportation, energy, and telecommunications. The head of government said that the meeting is also meant to introduce the targets set by Romania as it takes over EUs presidency on January 1, 2019. Between November 3rd and 8th, the premier will pay an official visit to Oman, where she will attend the opening of the Romanian embassy there, as well as to Qatar. Last month the prime minister went on a tour of the Middle East, with visits to Turkey, the UAE, and Kuwait.

TRAFFIC — In Romania, road traffic is temporarily shut down starting on November 1st on a major portion of the Transfagarasan pass motorway due to high altitude weather instability. This major throughway is one of the most picturesque in Romania, reaching a height of over 2,000 meters. It was constructed in 1974 and is 92 km long, and was featured on BBCs Top Gear show as the most beautiful road in the world.

TOURISM — On November 1st Romania introduced cheaper tourism services, applying the ordinance reducing VAT from 9% to 5%. This is meant as an incentive for boosting tourism and reducing tax evasion. This cut applies to tourism accommodation, including camping grounds, as well as a wide range of entertainment and fitness enterprises.

RECORD — A new world record was set on October 31st by Romanian Avram Iancu, who swam from Sulina, in the Danube Delta area, to Istanbul, wearing no protective gear. The challenge was dedicated to the Grand Union centennial that Romania celebrates this year. The athlete is known for his having swum the English Channel in August 2016 and for having swum the entire length of the Danube river in the summer of 2017.