1 October, 2016

The European Commissioner for Regional policy Corina Creţu continued her visit to Romania./ The RadiRo Festival comes to an end with a performance of the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Newsroom, 01.10.2016, 11:30

Regional development. On the second day of her visit to Iasi, in eastern
Romania, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu will have
talks with citizens from this city about the challenges facing Europe, the
Commission’s priorities for the next year and the benefits of EU membership.
She will also visit the city’s international airport which has been modernised
using European funds. On Friday, also in Iasi, Corina Cretu had talks with the
mayors of the largest cities in Moldavia about the implementation of a pilot
project for the development of Romania’s north-eastern region, which is one of
the poorest in Europe. According to Corina Cretu, Romania’s weak point is that
there aren’t enough quality projects. She said the European Commission plans to
intensify dialogue in this respect with the local and central authorities.

Romanians abroad. The minister delegate for relations with Romanians
abroad Maria Ligor, who made a trip to Rome, met the local authorities and
representatives of the Romanian community. She presented the Italian central
and local authorities with her government’s initiatives to encourage the
Romanians’ return to their native country and stimulate investment. Talks also
focused on the support granted to the Romanians affected by the earthquake that
hit Italy in August, in which 297 people were killed, including 11 Romanian
nationals.

Republic of Moldova. The recent developments concerning the regional security
environment and the European and Euro-Atlantic future of the Republic of
Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian speaking population, have
been the focus of talks in Bucharest on Friday between the Romanian defence
minister Mihnea Motoc and his Moldovan counterpart Anatolie Salaru. Motoc was
in favour of a more active involvement of Moldova in the EU’s security and
common defence policy. Anatolie Salaru said the Moldovan army was undergoing a
comprehensive reform process, including with the help of Romania. He recalled
that the authorities in Chisinau requested Bucharest’s support so that the
peace-keeping Russian troops in the pro-Russian break-away region of
Transdniester be replaced by UN representatives.

Paris Motor Show. The Paris Motor Show is under way between
the 1st and the 16th of October. Dacia Duster EDC is one
of the surprises prepared by the Renault Group for this edition. The car is on
show at the Dacia stand alongside the facelifted versions of Dacia Sandero,
Dacia Sandero Stepway, Dacia Logan and Dacia Logan MCV. The first Dacia car was
made in Romania in 1966. Since 1999, the brand has belonged to the Renault
Group and accounts for around 30% of the French company’s sales. The Dacia
carmaker recently announced that some production of its Logan MCV model made in
Romania, at Mioveni, would be moved to the Renault factory in Tangiers,
Morocco. Renault, which holds 99% of the shares in the Romanian factory, said
the move would free up production space for an increase in the production of
Duster cars, which are in high demand in Europe.

RadiRo Festival. The third edition of the RadiRo Festival comes to an
end tonight in Bucharest with a performance of the BBC Concert Orchestra
conducted by Barry
Wordsworth. The soloists are violinist Charles Mutter, flute player Ileana
Ruhemann and bagpiper Rob Jordan. On Friday evening, the Romanian National
Radio Orchestra took to the stage of the festival for the second time, this
time under the baton of the British conductor Leo Hussain, with Romanian
violinist Alexandru Tomescu as a soloist. This year’s concerts were broadcast
live on the European Broadcasting network and the Asia-Pacific platform of
public and private broadcasters.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Raluca Olaru and the
Turkish player Ipek Soylu on Saturday won the doubles title at the WTA
tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, worth 226,750 dollars in prize money. In
the final, the Romanian-Turkish pair defeated the Dutch-Czech pair Demi Schuurs
and Renata Voracova in straight sets. This is Raluca Olaru’s second doubles
title, having obtained her first also in Tashkent, in 2008, together with the
Ukrainian player Olga Savchuk.