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May 7, 2015 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.05.2015, 12:15

CEREMONY — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis on Thursday attended in Poland the ceremonies marking 70 years since the end of WWII. Alongside Polish President, Bronislaw Komorowski, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the EC President Donald Tusk and other political leaders, Klaus Iohannis attended an overnight ceremony in Gdansk, the place where the Solidarity Movement took shape. The event organised in Poland is regarded as a gesture of defiance for the Victory Day parade, which will be organised in Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, the BBC reports. Several western leaders have announced they will not attend the events in Moscow, due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

NATO — Romanian defence minister Mircea Dusa on Thursday held talks in Bucharest with the Commander of NATO Special Operations Headquarters, lieutenant general Marshall Webb. The Romanian minister hailed the good cooperation between Romania’s special operation forces and similar NATO structures, during drills and particularly on missions on theatres of operation. In turn, general Webb underlined the excellent cooperation relation with the special operation forces, saying that Romania is a regional leader in the field. General Webb, who is currently on an official visit to Romania, took part in a planning exercise in the field of special operations.

BILATERAL RELATIONS — Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday met with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijarto in Budapest. Bogdan Aurescu stressed the importance that Romania and Hungary have a ‘pragmatic, stable and efficient’ bilateral relation. Aurescu expressed confidence that the two states can work together in ‘a framework of honesty’ in order to solve all pending matters on the bilateral agenda, such as the protocol of the Romanian-Hungarian special cooperation committee on national minority issues. In turn, the Hungarian official said the two countries were strategic allies and partners, as the success of one depends on the success of the other. Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday paid a visit to Budapest, discussing minority-related problems, economic and cross-border cooperation, as well as other hot topics on the European agenda.

SUMMIT — Prime Minister Victor Ponta met on Thursday in Bucharest with US charge d’affaires Dean Thompson. The two discussed about the cyber security summit that will take place next week in Romania. Representatives of 17 Central and South-East European countries, both EU and NATO member and non-member states on Monday and Tuesday will attend the Regional Cyber Security Summit in Bucharest. The event, organised by the Ministry for the IT Society, jointly with the US Trade Department will bring together companies and government officials, cyber security experts from both the public and private sector from Central and South-Eastern Europe, the USA and Romania. The participants will present the cyber security policies pursued in their countries and will approach such issues as cyber threats and vulnerabilities, in an attempt to identify international and regional cooperation opportunities and to exchange good practices in the field.

FILM — For three weeks Romanian film enthusiasts will get to watch 55 features from 26 countries, as part of the European Film Festival, which kicked off this Thursday in Bucharest. The Festival is for the first time a parallel event devoted to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The organisers want to develop a platform for professional exchanges between the EU and the two countries. Films from and about Moldova and Ukraine will be screened, followed by debates on production and co-production topics, attended by experts from the two countries. The European Film Festival will run until May 31 in Bucharest, Craiova, Iasi, Targu Mures and Hunedoara.

CAR SALES — Dacia sales in Great Britain have gone up in April by 17% as compared to the same period of last year. The hike is mostly due to economic growth and cheap loans, the British Association of Car Makers and Traders announced on Thursday. In 2014, Dacia sold over 24,000 cars on the British market, a 37% increase as against 2013. Ford, Volkswagen, Open and Nissan are currently the best-seeling brands in Britain, which is the EU’s second largest car market, after Germany, but ahead of France, Italy and Spain. The Romania brand Dacia was bought by Renault in 1999. Re-branded in 2004 with the release of the new Logan model, in the eight ensuing years Dacia grew into one of the important brands on the European car market.