September 27

Romanias Supreme Defence Council, chaired by President Klaus Iohannis, convenes today in Bucharest/Romania has the fourth largest diaspora in Europe, with 3.4 million Romanian citizens living in a foreign country, a UN report shows

Newsroom, 27.09.2016, 12:00

NATIONAL DEFENCE –Romania’s Supreme Defence Council, chaired by President Klaus Iohannis, convenes today in Bucharest. The agenda of the meeting covers such topics as the implementation of the decisions made at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, the latest developments in the Middle East and the implications for Romania and the main measures which are necessary to eliminate threats to national security caused by a massive flow of migrants and to maintain the public order and safety climate. Other topics on the agenda are the situation of those active in the defence industry, the evaluation of cyber security in public institutions in Romania, setting up and rendering operational the multinational brigade for developing and consolidating essential elements of the advanced allied presence as well as the state of the public healthcare system in Romania.

ROMANIAN DIASPORA — Romania has been included in the top 20 of countries with the largest diapora, with some 3.4 million Romanian citizens living in a foreign country, a UN report based on figures released in 2015 shows. According to the UN World Migration Report, this is the second largest increase in a country’s diapora, 7.3% per year, and the highest increase in the number of migrants from a country which hasn’t faced war. Ranking first in terms of this increase is Syria, with 13.1%, and ranking third is Poland with 5.1%. At European level, it is for the first time that Romania has gone up to the 4th position, in terms of the total number of citizens who live abroad, following the UK, Poland and Germany. The Romanian diaspora accounts for 17% of Romania’s population, which stands at approximately 20 million people, according to the latest census, carried out in 2014.

WASHINGTON — The two candidates to the US presidency, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, have confirmed the major split in their views over security and economic issues, in the first of the three televised debates held ahead of the presidential elections of November 8. Their dialogue was based mainly on plans regarding the economy, the taxation system and foreign policy. They contradicted each other on the role the US should play on the international stage and mutually contested each other’s capacity to lead the country. The only common point was the determination to fight terrorism, pundits note. The debate ended with the Democratic candidate’s urge to the population to go to the polls and with the Republican’s candidate pledge to support her, in case she wins the elections. According to Bloomberg, the first reactions on the financial markets are indicative of the fact that investors consider that Hillary Clinton is the winner of the debate.

REP OF MOLDOVA — The EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn has announced in Chisinau that the EU will conditionally resume the financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a majority Romanian speaking population. Brussels is waiting for concrete results in the fight against corruption, in reforming the audio-visual and completing the investigation into the banking system fraud in the Republic of Moldova. EU’s further granting European financial support depends on Moldova’s signing an agreement with the IMF. In July, Moldova reached an agreement with the IMF, on a 170 million dollar loan. Later on, Romania’s Government unblocked and released the first tranche of a 150 million Euro loan. In another move, Commissioner Johannes Hahn has expressed hope that the presidential election of October 30 will be held in a democratic way, observing the national and international laws in the field.

FEAST OF MUSIC — RadiRo Festival, organised by Radio Romania, continues today with a concert given by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, which will perform pieces by Rachmaninoff and Schumann. Yesterday, the National Radio Orchestra under the baton of Cristian Macelaru and with cellist Razvan Suma as soloist received standing ovations. Another success was scored by the Radio Academic Choir and the Radio Children’s Choir, which performed Carl Orffs “Carmina Burana”, one of the best-known works of the last century. The festival, organised by Radio Romania, comes to an end on Saturday, October 1, and the concerts will also be aired live in the European Broadcasting Union network and the Asia-Pacific platform of public and private radio broadcasters. Now in its third edition, RadiRo is the only big European festival devoted exclusively to radio orchestras.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, WTA no.5, will meet Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova (WTA no. 41) in the eighth finals of the Wuhan Open in China, with approximately 2.5 million dollars in prize money up for grabs. Today Shvedova defeated Italian Roberta Vinci (WTA no.15), in the second round of the competition. Halep is fourth seeded in the Wuhan Open, after Angelique Kerber (WTA no.1), Garbine Muguruza (WTA no.3) and Agnieszka Radwanska (WTA no.4). (Translated by D. Vijeu)