September 23, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 23.09.2022, 19:53

NRRP. The Romanian
Government has announced that it has covered two other milestones in the field
of education, as provided for in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan
(NRRP). Through an emergency ordinance adopted on Friday, measures were introduced
to increase children’s access to early education. It is also allowed to use
European funds for the conclusion of partnerships between universities and
companies that want to get involved in the organization of dual higher
education. The government wants a student who is a graduate of dual
pre-university education to continue the same type of studies at the university
level. The companies that will get involved will benefit from fiscal
facilities. At the same time, the normative act allows so-called community
kindergartens to be established in localities where there are not enough
nurseries and kindergartens, which will function as structures of educational
units.

Mandate. Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has handed over the
presidency of the Community of Democracies to the Foreign Minister of Canada,
Melanie Joly during a ceremony held in New York on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly. Aurescu presented the highlights of the three-year mandate of
the Romanian presidency adding that during these three years, democracies,
human and international rights faced a lot of challenges, such as the Covid-19
pandemic and the unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. According to
him, under the Romanian presidency and with his support, on February 24th,
a group of member states endorsed a declaration voicing their support for the
democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its
internationally-recognized borders. At the same time the signatory countries firmly
condemned the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine and unequivocally
voiced their support for the Ukrainian people in its democratic
aspirations.

Ukraine. Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Russians to resist the partial military mobilization
announced by president Putin. According to Zelensky, 55 thousand Russian troops
have been killed in this war. Want more? No? Then protest, fight back, run
away or surrender to the Ukrainian army, Zelensky says in a video message in
Russian language. He has accused the Russian citizens of being accessories to
the crimes their troops are committing against the Ukrainians. Clashes between
the two armies have carried on both in the south and eastern Ukraine. In
another development, until Tuesday, four regions in southern and eastern
Ukraine, under Moscow’s total or partial control, are to vote in a referendum on
joining Russia. The polls, hastily organized
after being announced this week, have been widely condemned in the west as
illegitimate.

Visit. Romanian president
Klaus Iohannis has met with members of the Romanian community on the West Coast
of the US and told them that Romania is in a complicated situation created by
the war in neighboring Ukraine, but the country is doing well and the economy has
been growing. According to Iohannis, Romania has received nearly 2 million and
a half refugees from that country and has eased Ukraine’s grain exports. 60%
of Ukraine’s grain exports have so far been done via Romania and we are making
efforts to increase this quantity, Iohannis said. The president has also
stated that the almost 450 thousand Romanians who are living in the USA have
built an extraordinarily important bridge between the two countries. The
community of Romanians in the USA is the fifth largest after those in Italy,
Britain and Germany. We recall that on Tuesday and Wednesday Iohannis headed
the Romanian delegation attending the UN General Assembly.

Japan. The head of the
Romanian government, Nicolae Ciucă, will visit Tokyo next week, to participate
in the state funeral organized in honor of former Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe. Japan is one of Romania’s main partners in Asia, both politically
and economically, and there are all the prerequisites to transform this long
bilateral relationship, of over a century, into a privileged relationship at
the level of strategic partnership . We want this to happen as soon as possible,
Nicolae Ciucă has stated. He will be received by his Japanese counterpart,
Fumio Kishida, and will have meetings with the delegation of the Japan-Romania
Parliamentary Friendship League and with the president of the House of
Representatives in the Japanese Diet, Hosoda Hiroyuki. The Head of the Romanian
Executive will also have bilateral meetings with officials from other countries
who came to Tokyo on the occasion of the funeral, including the Prime Minister
of Australia, Anthony Albanese, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of South
Korea, Han Duck-soo.

South Korea. The Romanian Minister of Defense, Vasile Dîncu, who is on a formal visit to
South Korea, has had a meeting with his counterpart Lee Jong-Sup. A letter of
intent has been signed establishing the milestones for concluding a framework
cooperation agreement in the field of defense. Another topic addressed was the
international security situation, with an emphasis on the challenges in the
Black Sea region, and Asia-Pacific. The two officials have also discussed the
status and perspectives of strengthening cooperation within international
organizations, a framework ensured by the status of the Republic of Korea as a
global partner of the North Atlantic Alliance. (MI)