March 20, 2022 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 20.03.2022, 19:36

PLAN The Romanian government is working on a
national plan aimed at offering assistance to the Ukrainian refugees who have
made it to Romania. Authorities plan to provide support to the refugees who
decided to stay in Romania offering them jobs, medical assistance and education
for their children. Six working groups have been set up to deal with the issue.
The European Commission is to send to Bucharest a team who will assess the
expenses the government had with the Ukrainian refugees and how to settle them
with EU funds. Roughly 80 thousand Ukrainian refugees have decided to stay in
Romania and four thousand of them have applied for asylum. Over three thousand
Ukrainians have managed to get legal employment in Romania since the beginning
of the war on February 24th. Over half a million Ukrainian refugees
have so far arrived in Romania and roughly 30 thousand are children. The total
number of refugees has been estimated at 3.3 million.

COVID-19 2241 new covid-19 infections have been reported in Romania
in the past 24 hours as well as 16 fatalities. The number of those infected in
need of hospital care is coming close to 3000 out of whom 464 are being treated
in ICUs. Romania has also registered 48 thousand acute respiratory infections
in a week since the restrictions were lifted on March 9th. No
prevention rules are currently in place in Romania.

UKRAINE Ukrainian president Volodymyr
Zelensky on Sunday said he held talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron
on cooperation and ways of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict,
liberating the Ukrainian territories and saving people’s lives. At least 260
civilians have been killed in the fights for the city of Kharkiv in the
north-east of the country since the Russian troops commenced their onslaught on
Ukraine almost a month ago. The city has constantly been under mortar fire and
several residential buildings have been hit. The port-city of Mariupol has been
destroyed almost 98%, the local authorities have announced accusing Russia of
having transferred thousands of locals to isolated areas in Russia by force. Many
Western countries had moved their diplomats from Kiev to Lviv even before the
Russian invasion on February 24th. On Saturday, Japan’s Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi called for the
immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine. The USA has confirmed the use by
Russia of the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in its attacks against Ukraine. At
least 900 civilians have been killed and 1399 wounded in Ukraine since the
beginning of the conflict, says the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human
Rights. Pope Francis on Sunday described the war in Ukraine as a senseless
massacre and called on world leaders to stop ‘this repugnant war’. The next
round of talks between Ukraine and Russia could take place on Monday and
according to papers in Kiev, the talks are going to unfold online. Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says the sides are close to reaching an
agreement on several critical issues and some issues have already been agreed
upon.

FRANCOPHONY More than ever the big family of
Francophony must prove solidarity to face the severe challenges in the
Francophone space, such as Russia’s horrible aggression against Ukraine, the
tragic humanitarian situation it created, the security gap and the threat of
terrorism in some regions of Africa, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said
on Sunday in a message conveyed on the occasion of the Day of Francophony. The
Francophony is a community of values but these common values are threatened by
the war Russia is waging in Ukraine, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu
has also said. Romania became a member of the International Organisation of
Francophony in 1993. The Romanian Peasant Museum on Sunday screened several French
film productions and the National Opera in Bucharest staged Giselle by Adolphe
Charles Adam under the baton of Ciprian Teodorescu. The cast also included
several Ukrainian ballet dancers who took refuge in Romania and had been
offered contracts with the National Opera in Bucharest.

SALES According to international
research, Romania’s online sales have increased more than seven times in the past
decade as compared to other countries in Eastern Europe. Online sales in 2020
increased 70% as compared to the previous year, as a result of the pandemic.
There is a 23% gap between the online users in the cities and those in the
rural areas, the highest at EU level.

(bill)