July 11, 2022

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 11.07.2022, 14:00

PARTNERSHIP Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis has hailed the anniversary of 25 years since the launch of the
Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America
describing the document as one of the pillars of Romania’s foreign and security
policy, says a communiqué issued by the Presidential Administration in
Bucharest. According to Iohannis a common objective assumed by the two
countries is Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver programme and both sides
are making efforts in this respect. In turn, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
said the Strategic Partnership with the USA in all its cooperation dimensions
has become a priority for Romania. The country will continue to consolidate its
defence and resilience to be a staunch and reliable ally of the USA in the
region, a pillar of stability for NATO and EU’s eastern flank, Ciuca added.

DEFICIT According to
the National Institute for Statistics, Romania’s trade deficit went up to 12.7
billion euros in the first five months of the year, 40% more than in the
similar period last year. Exports rose by 23.5% to reach 36.9 billion euros and
imports by 28.1% to amount to 49.6 billion euros. In May this year, exports
totaled 7.9 billion euros while imports stood at 10.7 billion with a deficit
of 2.7 billion.

WAR Russian forces continued to bomb eastern Ukraine, killing at least 15
people in an attack, which destroyed a residential building in Chasiv Yar on
Sunday. Authorities have reported five rocket attacks and massive artillery
shelling against the populated cities in the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.
Russian artillery attacks have also included civilian targets in the region and
according to British experts, the Russian troops are making small headway. The
Russian Defence Ministry has accused the Ukrainians of placing civilians and
weapons in schools and other civilian buildings in several localities in
Donetsk and Kharkiv. Experts say that Russians are making progress in eastern
Ukraine as they managed to deploy more troops and resources in the region than the Ukrainians. The
situation could become balanced through a counterattack by Ukrainian forces
which are now relying on modern military equipment from the West. The latest military
aid announced by the USA stays at 400 million dollars worth of four HIMARS rocket
systems to be added to the 8 Kyiv already uses while the 155 mm cannons with intelligent ammunition have already been
deployed.

COVID-19 Romania is seeing a
rising number of Covid-19 infections and its Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila,
says the country is in for a peak of infections at the end of this summer,
where the number of daily cases might reach 10 thousand. Luckily, the new
variants are less aggressive and the minister recommends anti-Covid vaccination
in autumn when new vaccines are to appear. According to Rafila, the new vaccine
is to arrive in Romania in September and the country is presently relying on
8.5 million doses. Authorities have recommended hospitals to get ready for a
wave of the pandemic and reactivate their action plans.

VISIT The European Chief Prosecutor, Laura
Codruta Kovesi, is to arrive today in Chisinau, capital of the ex-soviet
Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. Until July 14, the EU official is to hold
talks with government officials, including the country’s president Maia Sandu.
In January Sandu told Kovesi that she wanted to cooperate with the European
institution in order to give an impetus to the legal reforms in the republic.
In another development, a delegation of the Moldovan Interior Ministry will
today participate in the in the EU’s JHA Council underway in Prague. In a
Facebook post, Minister Ana Revenco said the talks would also focus on the
enlargement of the EU security space to also include the Republic of Moldova.

(bill)