October 11, 2013

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

Ştefan Stoica, 11.10.2013, 12:05

The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. Founded in 1997, the Organization is headquartered in the Hague and is now charged by the UN Security Council to supervise the elimination, by June 30th, 2014, of Syria’s chemical weapons. Last year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union in recognition of its efforts to promote peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights at EU level.

EU Commissioner for Agriculture Romanian Dacian Ciolos is on a three-day official visit to the Republic of Moldova at the invitation of Prime Minister Iurie Leanca. His visit comes after the European Commission decided to open its market to wine imports from that country. The measure, steered through the European Parliament by Ciolos himself last month, was taken after Russia put a ban on wine imports from the Republic of Moldova. Commissioner Ciolos’s visit comes before the endorsement of the Association and Free Trade Agreement between the former soviet republic and the European Union, ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit of November in Vilnius.

Romania’s national football team is today playing Andorra away from home, in a match counting towards the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. With 13 points out of 8 matches, Romania ranks 4th in Group D, after the Netherlands, Hungary and Turkey. The Netherlands has already secured qualification. Romania will next be pitted against Estonia on home turf next week. Romania’s objective is to secure the second position in the group tables, allowing them to play in the World Cup playoffs.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has argued in favour of a political solution to the Syrian conflict, urging the Government in Damascus and the Syrian opposition to attend the International Conference organized jointly by the United States and Russia in November. France Press news agency recalls that in September this year Rasmussen said a military option “was still on the table”, in order to determine Bashar al-Assad’s regime to observe the Russian-American agreement regarding the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile. Operations in that respect are already underway, while Damascus has received the acknowledgement of the international community for cooperating with UN inspectors charged with that mission.

Romania is taking part in the International Book Fair in Frankfurt, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world. Romania’s pavilion will play host to several book launches, poetry recitals in Romanian and German and various exhibitions. This year Romania is guest of honour at the Stuttgart Book fair, scheduled to take place between November 14 and December 8. Visitors will be able to listen to audio recordings of Romanian traditional fairytales and attend lectures, book launches, film screenings and debates on the literature of the German minority in Romania.

Starting today and all the way through Sunday Bucharest will host the 4th edition of the Balkans Beyond Borders — Reinventing Bridges Short Film Festival. This year’s theme is reinventing the past and future of the Balkans. Each day will see screenings of films selected in the competition, followed by debates with the members of the jury and other cinema professionals. The programme of the festival also includes several Romanian shorts, such as Cristian Pascariu’s “One Year After”, Luiza Parvu’s “My Baby” and Alexandra Carastoian’s “I Want to Know What It’s Like”.

Consumer prices went down in Romania last month by as much as 0.6% as compared to the month of August. The National Institute for Statistics says the decrease is owing to a drop in food prices, as well as to the lowering of VAT for bread. The trade deficit has also dropped by over 40% in the first eight months of this year, as compared to the same period of last year, due to an increase in exports. Industrial production reported a 16% drop in August as compared to July. For the first eight months of 2013 however the Institute reports a 6.5% growth as compared to the same period of last year.