October 22, 2024 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 22.10.2024, 20:07
Montenegro – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, will pay an official visit to Montenegro on Wednesday, at the invitation of his counterpart Jakov Milatovic. Talks between the two presidents will focus on political-diplomatic and defense cooperation, support for Montenegro’s European path and the main regional and global security challenges. As regards the sectoral areas of cooperation, opportunities for increasing investments and commercial exchanges and boosting contacts in the fields of energy, tourism, agriculture, internal affairs, research, education and culture will be addressed.
Salaries – The Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Tuesday, as a decision-making body, a draft law that ensures a new mechanism for establishing the level of the minimum wage, according to the provisions of a European directive in the field. Employees have access to minimum wage protection, in the form of a legal minimum wage or in the form of decent wages and working conditions established under collective labor contracts, collective agreements or other written agreements. According to the bill, the gross minimum basic salary per country guaranteed in payment is established annually by Government decision and is applied from January 1 of the following year, with periodic updating once a year, after consultations with the representative trade union and employer confederations at the national level. The minimum gross basic salary per country guaranteed, in payment, established by Government decision can be granted to an employee for a maximum period of 24 months, from the date of conclusion of the individual employment contract.
IMF – The International Monetary Fund has revised downwards the estimates regarding the growth of the Romanian economy this year, from 2.8% as forecast in April, shows the latest report published on Tuesday by the international financial institution. According to the IMF, after an increase of 2.1% last year, the advance of the Romanian economy will slow down to 1.9% this year, and will accelerate up to 3.3% in 2025. The institution also expects a continuation of the worsening of Romania’s current account deficit, up to 7.5% of the GDP this year. As regards inflation, the IMF forecasts that Romania will register an average annual price increase of 5.3% this year, followed by a 3.6% increase in 2025. As for the unemployment rate, the IMF estimates that it will remain stable, to 5.6% this year and to 5.4% next year.
Moldova – The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the organization by the Chisinau authorities, at high democratic standards, of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum of October 20 in the Republic of Moldova. The entry into the second round of the election, with a solid score, of the candidate with the most authentic and deep pro-European commitment, President Maia Sandu, as well as the result of the constitutional referendum, proves, despite the challenges, the citizens’ attachment to the European, democratic future of the Republic of Moldova”, reads a press release. Maia Sandu won the first round of the election and will face the candidate of the Socialist Party, Alexandr Stoianoglo, in the 2nd round. The referendum on the country’s EU accession passed with a difference of less than 12,000 votes. The EU and the White House welcomed the election results, while Moscow, accused of meddling in the election process, denied its interference and said that the elections had not been free.
Loan – The European Parliament approved, on Tuesday, a loan of up to 35 billion Euros to Ukraine, which will be financed from the profits generated by the Russian assets frozen in Europe, AFP reports. The sum represents the EU’s contribution to the assistance package worth almost 45 billion Euros, agreed upon in June by the world’s major economies, gathered in the G7 group. The US, Canada, Great Britain and Japan are yet to decide to what extent they will participate in this loan. According to AFP, Russian assets worth around 280 billion Euros were frozen in the EU following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Visit – The Romanian Defense Minister, Angel Tîlvăr, is paying a working visit to Turkey, in Istanbul, between October 22-24, at the invitation of his counterpart, Yaşar Guler. The two officials will have a bilateral meeting, during which they will discuss the results recorded since the implementation of the MCM Black Sea project and the necessary steps to follow in the creation of the military mobility corridor between Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, according to the Letter of Intent signed last week at Meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. On the sidelines of the visit, minister Angel Tîlvăr had a meeting with Haluk Gorgun, the president of the Defense Industry Agency (SSB) and participated in the SAHA EXPO 2024 International Defense and Aerospace Exhibition, a reference event in the field of defense and the aerospace industry organized at the Center Exhibition in Yeşilkoy, Istanbul.