October 2, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.10.2023, 20:00

Kyiv. The security in Ukraine and in the surrounding states is
fragile. Romania has the longest border with Ukraine. Russia’s attacks on the
civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including the ports on the Danube at the
border with Romania, are worsening the situation. The statement was made
on Monday, in Kyiv, by the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminiţa
Odobescu, present at the informal meeting of the heads of diplomacy from the EU
member states. According to the official, Romania is trying to help Ukraine by
offering transit on the corridors of solidarity. At the same time, she
reiterated Bucharest’s support for the start of EU accession negotiations with
Ukraine, until the end of the year. It’s the first meeting of European foreign
ministers outside the EU. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell,
described the meeting as historic. We are here to express our
solidarity and support for the Ukrainian people, the official said. The
head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmitro Kuleba, also welcomed the first meeting of
his European counterparts in Kyiv, held ‘within the future borders of the
European Union’.

Francophonie. A House
of Francophonie was inaugurated, on Monday, on the campus of the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, in the presence of the President of
Romania, Klaus Iohannis. I encourage the academic communities throughout
the country to get involved with all their energy in the process of developing
international partnerships and collaboration with the business environment in
order to increase the contribution of our higher education in the field of
combating climate change, pollution and biodiversity damage. At the same time,
we must focus on addressing the energy and cyber security challenges, the
head of state emphasized. The celebration took place on the very day when the
new academic year started. The house is the second of its kind in the
French-speaking world, after the one in Paris. It was built in record time, one
year, and will be able to accommodate 300 students and researchers
participating in various scientific projects. Romania celebrates 30 years since
joining the Francophone Movement.

Stock Exchange. The Bucharest Stock Exchange had an yield of 22% in the first 9 months of the year,
according to the Romanian Stock Market index (BET), rating 20 of the most
traded companies in Romania. Factoring in the stock options provided by these
companies, the stock market also recoded earnings of nearly 30%. A third of
this growth was reported in September, when the two indexes reached an all-time
high, growing by 9% and 10% respectively. The top three most traded companies
last week were Hidroelectrica, OMV Petrom and Transilvania Bank.

Government.
The Romanian
government approved on Monday, in an extraordinary meeting, the allocation of
50 million lei (approximately 10 million euros) to allow the continuation of
the activity of the Hunedoara Energy Complex, which entered insolvency in 2019.
The money will reach the approximately 2,000 employees and will be granted from
the reserve fund of the executive, to be recovered from the European Union.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu explained that a new company is being established,
the Valea Jiului Energy Complex, which comes with proposals for production from
green energy sources, both in the photovoltaic and hydro areas. In another
move, the government decided that starting this month, aid will be granted to
pensioners with incomes below 3,000 lei (approximately 600 euros). The gambling
regime will also be regulated in the next meeting. Among other things, it is
proposed that all operators have their tax headquarters in Romania.

NRRP. Romania received the
second installment of European funds as part of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan , worth 2.7 bln EUR. Romania has so far fulfilled 49 of
the 51 milestones linked to the second installment. Two milestones regarding
investments in energy have not been fully implemented, yet Brussels believes
Romania has taken measures to remedy the situation. Prime Minister Marcel
Ciolacu said the government must be efficient and transparent in administering
these funds earmarked for a number of key reforms addressing green and digital
transition. At the same time, Bucharest is focusing on implementing milestones
and targets pertaining to the third installment, the Prime Minister added. So
far Romania was disbursed 10 of the total of 29 bln EUR as grants and loans
under PNRR.

Nobel. Katalin Kariko (Hungary) and Drew Weissman (USA) won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine
for their discoveries
concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of
effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, announced Thomas Perlmann, secretary general of the Nobel
Committee at the headquarters of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Last year, the Nobel prize in medicine was awarded to Swedish paleogeneticist
Svante Pääbo for his discoveries regarding human evolution. In the following
days, the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, economics, literature and peace
will be announced. (MI)