October 9, 2024 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 09.10.2024, 20:03
Sustainable development – The Romanian government approved, on Wednesday, a bill on the establishment of the Center of Excellence for public administration in the field of sustainable development. According to a government press release, the Center will facilitate the implementation of the National Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Romania 2030 and will be established on the pillars of research, education and dialogue about sustainable development. The draft law is to be submitted to Parliament for debate and approval. Also on Wednesday, the Government adopted two measures to support farmers affected by the drought: financial compensation and the suspension, of right, of reimbursing current and outstanding loans until August 2025. The decision was made in the context in which the crops of over 230,000 agricultural producers were affected by the drought between September 2023 and August 2024. The budget of this state aid scheme is two billion lei.
Holocaust – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday issued a statement on the National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust, saying that terrorism, hatred, violence, disinformation and hate speech are again gaining ground and that it is the responsibility of today’s generations to put a stop to them. He reiterated the commitment of the Romanian state to the democratic values and the respect for human dignity. Prime minister r Marcel Ciolacu also said anti-Semitism is tragically a reality today, but that it is our duty not to make it a reality of the future.
Visit – Romania will remain by the side of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population), strongly supporting its integration into the European Union, said the Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Ciucă. He met, on Wednesday, in Chişinău, with the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu. ‘The vote in the European Parliament, which firmly supports the European path of the Republic of Moldova, represents an essential step towards the European future of our brothers across the Prut River’, Nicolae Ciuca said. According to him, the meeting with Maia Sandu was an opportunity to reiterated full support for the reforms initiated in the neighboring state.
Lebanon – A new group of 58 people in vulnerable situations, Romanian citizens and first degree family members, mostly women, children, medical cases, people in the maximum risk area, was assisted with a view to repatriation from Lebanon and was transported, on Wednesday, in Romania, on board an aircraft belonging to the Romanian Air Force. According to the Foreign Ministry, the 58 people were supported by the staff of the Romanian Embassy in Beirut and by two mobile consular teams from the Rapid Reaction Unit of the Foreign Ministry in order to issue their travel documents and complete all the necessary boarding formalities. To date, 270 Romanian citizens and their family members have been evacuated from Lebanon. The Foreign Ministry reminds that a level 8/9 “Avoid all travel!” warning has been in force since October 2023 for the entire territory of the Lebanese Republic.
Nobel – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the American researcher David Baker from the Washington School of Medicine for computational protein design and to the British researchers Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from Google Deepmind for protein structure prediction, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced. In 2023, the prize was shared by Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. The prizes will be awarded during a special ceremony held on 10th December, on the day when Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, passed away in 1896. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has so far announced this year’s prizes for medicine and physics.
Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian stopped in the second round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Wuhan (China), with total prizes worth about 3.2 million dollars. Cristian, the beneficiary of a wild card, was defeated, with the score 6-2, 6-4, by the Chinese Qinwen Zheng, the Olympic champion in Paris. The two are tied in direct matches, 2-2. Also on Wednesday, the Romanian-Spanish pair Monica Niculescu/Cristina Bucşa was defeated by the pair Ana Danilina (Kazakhstan)/Irina Hromaceva (Russia) with 4-6, 0-6, 10-8. Niculescu and her partner born in Chişinău are champions, this year, in Strasbourg.
Resolution – The European Parliament adopted, on Wednesday, with a large majority, a resolution on strengthening the resilience of the Republic of Moldova ahead of the upcoming presidential election and the referendum on EU accession on October 20. The resolution condemns the malicious activities, meddling and hybrid operations of the Russian Federation, pro-Russian oligarchs and Russian-sponsored local actors aimed at undermining the electoral process, the security, sovereignty and democratic foundations of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, MEPs accuse Russia of fueling the divisions in the Moldovan society and of trying to derail the state’s pro-European trajectory.
Romania – Egypt – The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu on Wednesday had official talks with Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat. The two officials reiterated their countries’ common interest in consolidating dialogue and cooperation, both with respect to bilateral relations and in regional and international matters. Minister Odobescu conveyed Romania’s appreciation for Egypt’s efforts to ensure peace and stability in the Middle East and Africa and thanked the Egyptian authorities for their help with the repatriation of Romanian citizens from the Gaza Strip. She also reiterated Romania’s support for the consolidation of the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership. The Egyptian minister, who co-chairs the mixed committee for economic, technical and scientific cooperation between Romania and Egypt, voiced her country’s interest in developing economic and sectoral relations with Romania. She also referred to the extended efforts of the government in Cairo for the development of international economic partnerships and the efficient management of the economic effects of regional crises. (LS, CM)
