October 21, 2016
President Iohannis announces Romania-Canada agreement on lifting visa requirements
Newsroom, 21.10.2016, 00:01
VISA AGREEMENT – The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis has announced in Brussels today that Romania reached an agreement with Canada regarding the lifting of visa requirements. Under this multi-stage deal, the Romanian citizens who have previously obtained visas will be allowed to enter Canada without such requirements as of May 1, 2017. All Romanian citizens will then be able to travel to Canada without visas as of December 1 next year. Klaus Iohannis has added that Bucharest no longer objects to the EU – Canada Trade Agreement. On the other hand, the EU leaders convening in Brussels carry on talks today regarding the Unions foreign relations, with a focus on the relations with Russia. President Iohannis says the bombing of Aleppo must cease immediately and humanitarian aid must reach the area. On the sidelines of the Council meeting, Iohannis had talks with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May. According to the Romanian official, May guaranteed that she would be personally involved in making sure there would be no additional pressure on the Romanians working in the UK.
OFFICIAL VISIT – The Prime Minister of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, and the Defence Minister, Mihnea Motoc, are on a visit to Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina today, the Government announced in a news release. The two officials will have talks with the commanders of the NATO missions (KFOR and NATO Sarajevo) and EU mission (EUFOR) and will meet with the Romanian troops taking part in missions in the Western Balkans. They will also place flowers at the monument erected in honour of sublieutenant Remus Brânzan, who died during a mission to broaden the Gorazde corridor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
BUCHAREST RALLY – Organisers have announced that at least 10,000 people are expected to take part on Saturday in Bucharest in a rally in support of the Republic of Moldova joining Romania, with many of the participants coming from neighbouring Moldova. They believe that, in the current geopolitical context, the union of the two countries is the only solution for the ethnic Romanians, who make up the majority population of Moldova, not to be the victims of a Russian campaign similar to the one against Ukraine and for Moldova to reach the European democracy, lawfulness and prosperity standards. Already a tradition in Bucharest, the pro-Bessarabia rallies started in 2012, with the commemoration of 200 years since this province was first annexed by Tsarist Russia. Todays Republic of Moldova has been established on part of the territory of Bessarabia, which had re-joined Romania after World War 1 and was re-annexed by USSR in 1940.
ILLEGAL MIGRANTS – Romanian border police Thursday night apprehended 7 Nigerian citizens attempting to illegally cross the border from Serbia in order to enter the Schengen area. The migrants said they had crossed the border on foot, in order to get into a Western European country. They are currently investigated for illegal border crossing. The Serbian authorities were also notified, so that they may conduct joint investigations and implement the readmission agreement.
TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu (no 51 in the world) is playing today against the Dutch Kiki Bertens (22 WTA), in the semi-finals of the Luxembourg tournament, which has 250,000 US dollars in prize money. Niculescu got to this stage of the competition after her opponent in the quarterfinals, the Danish Caroline Wozniacki, pulled out due to illness. Meanwhile, in the quarter-finals of the ATP tournament in Antwerp, which has over 550,000 euros in prize money, the Romanian player Marius Copil (198 in the world) will play Belgiums David Goffin, seed no 1 and currently no 12 in the world. In the second round of the competition, on Thursday, Copil had deafeated another Belgian, Steve Darcis.
FOOTBALL – Romanias football champions Astra Giurgiu Thursday night won 2-1 away from home, in their match against the Czech side Viktoria Plzen in Europa Leagues Group E. these are the first points won by the Romanian team, which had lost their first two matches, 2-3, on home turf against Austria Viena and 0-4, away from home, against AS Rome. Also on Thursday, in Group L, vice-champions Steaua Bucharest drew 1-all against F.C. Zurich, from Switzerland. Steaua had the exact same result in their previous match, against Spanish side Villarreal, after having lost 0-2 in Turkey against Osmanlispor.
