September 26, 2015

Click here for a round-up of domestic and international news.

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Newsroom, 26.09.2015, 12:00

VISIT — Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, who is currently on an official visit to the US, is due to meet with representatives of the Romanian community in New York, have talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and attend the dinner offered by Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. On Friday, he attended the opening of the UN Summit, which adopted an ambitious plan of sustainable development for the following 15 years, whose annual estimated costs stand at thousands of billions of dollars. Klaus Iohannis has also had talks with the President of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft. The agenda of the Romanian President’s visit, which comes to a close on September 29, also includes talks with US Vice-President Joe Biden, on the refugee crisis Europe is facing and the fight against terrorism.

COOPERATION — Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has met in New York, with his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguli Berdamuhamedov, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, the two presidents underlined the interest they take in further boosting bilateral relations and in capitalising on the economic cooperation potential more efficiently, especially in such domains as energy, infrastructure and agriculture. In this context, the two officials mentioned the importance of implementing a joint project aimed at setting up a freight transport corridor from the Black-Sea to the Caspian Sea. They have also expressed their wish to cooperate more actively within the framework of the EU Strategy for Central Asia.

FINANCIAL — Romania’s agreement with the IMF, which was blocked in mid 2014, expires today, with experts saying we will soon have a clear image of the future evolution and direction of the relations between the two sides. A revision of the current 4 billion Euro agreement with the international creditors has been blocked since June 2014, in the lack of an agreement on the Romanian Government’s fiscal plans. In the first part of the year, the Romanian authorities tried to adopt a complex package of tax reductions included in the new Fiscal Code, but the representatives of the international financial institutions, as well as those of the Fiscal Council and the National Bank of Romania have been critical of such an approach. This month, finance minister Eugen Teodorovici, has made public Romania’s intention to start talks with its international creditors to reach a new assistance agreement, to take effect in 2016. In his opinion, the agreement is needed to protect Romania’s finances from fluctuations and shocks on the market.

REFUGEE CRISIS — New laws to manage the increasing number of asylum seekers in Germany might take effect on November the 1st, said Peter Altmaier, Chief of Staff of the Federal Chancellery in Angela Merkel’s cabinet. The measures, which will include additional financial support as well as stricter rules for asylum seekers in Germany, have been agreed upon during a meeting between the German chancellor and the heads of government of most German states. Germany expects between 800,000 and one million asylum seekers to be registered this year, a record high for this country and for Europe, in general. A conference on the refugee crisis focussing on the Western Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean route that the migrants follow on their way to Europe, will be held in Luxembourg, on October 8. Attending the conference will be foreign and interior ministers of the member states, Turkey and the Balkan states. Since the start of the year, some 500,000 migrants from the Middle East and North Africa fled war and poverty in their native countries and headed for the EU.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Irina Begu, on Saturday qualified for the finals of the WTA tennis tournament in Seoul with 426,750 US dollars in prize money up for grabs, after she defeated Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-2. First seeded Irina Begu, will be facing in the finals of the competition Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The qualification to the Seoul tennis tournament finals is the best result scored by Begu this year.

DANCESPORT — Between September 25 and 27, the central Romanian town of Sibiu is hosting the Transylvanian Grand Prix, the most important dancesport competition of the year in Romania, which enjoys the participation of over 1,500 dancers from 25 countries. The competition is structured on age categories, from 6 year olds to professionals. 20 pairs are taking part in the World Open Competition destined for professionals, all of them being included on the Top 50-World Ranking List. Dancing on Sunday, the last day of the Transylvanian Grand Prix, will be, among others, the Show Dance world champions, Romanians Roman Ciflicli and Mirona Gliga. The pair has recently won the world title in Chengdu, China.