November 4, 2018 UPDATE

PM Dacila pays visit to Oman, IMF mission to come to Bucharest

Newsroom, 04.11.2018, 19:17

Muscat — The opening of the Romanian Embassy in Muscat, the capital of Oman, as well as the lifting of visa requirements for the citizens of this country who have diplomatic or official passports are significant steps in the process of expanding relations between Romania and Oman, said the Romanian PM Viorica Dancila, who is paying a 3-day official visit to Oman. PM Dancila met with Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud al Said, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers in the Sultanate of Oman with who, she analyzed opportunities for cooperation in such fields as agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, healthcare and education. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent the PM Dancila encouraged investments in Romania, and she underscored that the business environment is supported following the modification of the public-private partnership legislation. The next leg of her tour of the region is Qatar. Last month Viorica Dancila made a tour of the Middle East which included Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Also on Friday PM Viorica Dancila met with her Israeli counterpart on the sidelines of a regional meeting held in neighboring Bulgaria.

PSD — The National executive committee of the Social Democratic Party — PSD, the main party in the ruling coalition in Bucharest, is meeting on Monday, with the clear purpose of nominating the leaders of the Financial Supervisory Authority and of the National Council of the Audiovisual. The press speculates that they might also discuss the details of the government reshuffle announced by the PM Dancila. The meeting takes place against the backdrop of increasing tension between the supporters of the party leader and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragnea, and those of the general mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea.

IMF — An IMF mission headed by the IMF chief for Romania, Jaewoo Lee, will be in Bucharest between November 6th to 12th. According to the IMF resident representative in Romania and Bulgaria, Alejandro Hajdenberg, the IMF experts will look into the recent economic and financial developments in Romania, will update the macro-economic prospects and discuss the 2019 budget. At present, Romania does not have a running funding agreement with the IMF, but the financial institution is annually assessing the evolution of the Romanian economy.

Chisinau — Moody’s rating agency confirmed the long term rating for Moldova at B3 with outlook stable. Moody’s experts say the ex-Soviet state enjoys solid economic growth, with a moderate government debt and an improvement in institutional capacity, against the backdrop of moderate political risks and diminished risks in the banking sector. However, they remarked a persistence of difficulties in the governing act and a reduced political predictability. According to Moody’s, Moldova’s economic growth was solid in the first semester of 2018, the real GDP reporting a 4.5% growth as compared to a 2.9% growth in the same period of last year.

Rome — Roman and Greek-Catholic bishops from Romania on Monday will start a one-week visit to Rome, where they will meet with Pope Francis. This is the 5th visit to the Vatican by the members of the Episcopal Conference of Romania after the fall of the Communist dictatorship in 1989 and the first visit to meet the current Pope. Joining the conference members is also the Roman-Catholic bishop of neighboring Moldova. We remind you that in 1999 Romania became the 2nd country with a majority Orthodox population to be visited by a Pope, namely Pope John Paul II.

Bucharest city hall — The general mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea, will pay a visit to Madrid on Monday. Together with the mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena Castrillo, she will sign a memorandum of cooperation between the two cities in the fields of sustainable development, infrastructure, education, culture and tourism. Gabriela Firea will also meet with Madrid city hall experts specialized in smart cities and infrastructure as well as with the representatives of companies dealing in urban planning and urban governance. The Bucharest general mayor will also participate in the opening of the World Forum on Urban Violence and Education for Coexistence and Peace, and will meet with the president of the Madrid Community, Angel Garrido.

Dublin — The Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has warned that Brexit undermines the agreement known as “Good Friday Agreement” which put an end to decades of violence in Northern Ireland, the BBC reports. “Anything that pulls the communities apart in Northern Ireland undermines the Good Friday Agreement, and anything that pulls Britain and Ireland apart undermines that relationship,” said Mr Varadkar in an interview to the state television RTE. One of the biggest sticking points in the Brexit negotiations is the Irish border, and the UK government says that nothing that they agree with the EU will risk a return to a hard border. Brexit is scheduled for March 2019.

Tennis – The pair made up of the Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer on Sunday lost the doubles final of the ATP Masters tournament hosted by Paris, which had total prizes up for grabs worth 4.8 million Euros. Tecau and Rojer were defeated 2-0 in the sets by the pair made up of the Spanish Marcel Granollers and the American Rajeev Ram. In Saturday’s semifinals, Tecau and Rojer defeated 2-0, in the sets, the 2nd seeded pair made up of the Americans Mike Bryans and Jack Sock. Their adversaries in the final took advantage of the injury of Croat Mate Pavic, who could no longer team up with the Austrian Oliver Marach. For Tecau this is going to be the 54th doubles final in his career and the 3rd in 2018, after the titles won in Dubai and Winston-Salem. (translation by L. Simion)