January 12, 2018
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Newsroom, 12.01.2018, 14:23
CONTRACT A contract has been signed in Bucharest today for the purchase of 227 Piranha armored fighting vehicles. Under the contract, the first 30 vehicles are to be delivered from Switzerland and the rest will be produced in Romania. The total cost of the purchase stays around 895 million euros. These vehicles offer the highest protection to personnel and can be equipped with various weapons. They are mainly used as personnel carriers but can be adjusted for medevac or other specific missions. The Defence Ministry is to also purchase 173 trucks that will be used as troops carriers or to provide logistics support.
TENNIS Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu has today defeated Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Hobart, Australia with 225 thousand dollars in prize money. Mihaela, who on Monday is to join the worlds top 50 players for the first time in her career will be playing Belgian Elise Mertens (WTA 36) in the finals. Australian Open, the years first Grand Slam tournament is to commence on Monday with the worlds best player, Romanian Simona Halep, as the odds-on favourite. The Romanian will be playing Australian Destanee Aiava in the competitions first round. Besides Halep, the singles main draw has another five players from Romania, Sorana Cirstea, Irina Begu, Mihaela Buzarnescu, Monica Niculescu and Ana Bogdan. Marius Copil (ATP 93) will be representing Romania in the mens singles.
TOUR Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has today left Tokyo on a diplomatic tour to Central and Eastern Europe, which takes him to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. The Japanese official is trying to rally support for Tokyos firm stand against North Korea, France Press reports. This is the first such visit paid by a Japanese Premier to the region. The Japanese official is to be received by president Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest on Tuesday. The talks agenda includes the stage and prospects in the process of strengthening the very good relations of the Renewed Partnership between Romania and Japan at political, economic and cultural level as well as in terms of security and human relations, the Romanian presidency has announced. Other issues, such as the cooperation between the EU and Japan, regional developments with emphasis to the North Korean file as well as the Romanian-Japanese multilateral cooperation, are also to be tackled. This is the first visit to Romania by a Japanese Prime Minister and comes against the background of celebrating five years since the 2013 Renewed Partnership between Romania and Japan.
GDP According to data released today by the National Institute for Statistics, in the third quarter of 2017, Romanias GDP registered an 8.8% growth as compared to the same period of 2016. The same data reveal the GDP saw a 7% rise in nine months. As compared to the second quarter of 2017, the GDP was 2.6% higher in the third quarter. The World Bank announced two days ago that it expected Romania to report a 6.4% GDP growth for 2017 against a June forecast of 4.4%. In November 2017, the National Forecast Committee revised up its forecast on Romanias economic growth from an earlier 5.6% to 6.1%. The IMF has also revised up its forecasts on Romanias economic development in 2017 from 4.2% to 5.5%.
HANDBALL In Bolzano, Italy, Romanias national handball side will be playing the Faeroe Islands in the qualifiers for the 2019 World Handball Championship due in Germany and Denmark. On Thursday, the Romanian side coached by Spanish Xavier Pasqual, outperformed Italy 34 – 24 and is to take on Ukraine on Saturday. The games are played in the qualifiers group 3. 13 teams from Europe will be playing in the World Championships. Three European sides have already been qualified: champion side France as well as the host countries, Germany and Denmark.
Translated by Daniel Bilt
