October 19, 2013

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Valentin Țigău, 19.10.2013, 14:01

Romania will keep its public spending at bay, in spite of the upcoming elections of 2014, Prime Minister Victor Ponta told the US magazine Wall Street Journal. The Romanian Government plans to maintain the trade deficit below 3% of the GDP in 2013 and 2014 and public debt below 40% of the GDP, which would make it one of the lowest at EU level. Victor Ponta said the Government would sell assets also by means of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), which should lead to an increase in transparency and corporate management.

As of Monday, Romania wants to sell 15% of the shares of the energy company Romgaz, in exchange for up to 400 million euros. The shares are to be sold both on the Bucharest and London Stock Exchange. The Government has recently completed the final procedure for listing Romgaz by establishing a selling price. Romgaz will thus become the first Romanian company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Romgaz is currently Romania’s biggest gas producer and supplier, with a quota of 50% of Romania’s internal gas output in 2012.

The US energy giant Chevron has started drilling for shale gas in Constanta County. Representatives of the corporation support the organization of far-reaching awareness-raising campaigns in villages where exploration operations are scheduled. Chevron wants to return to Pungesti to discuss with the locals in an attempt to explain what shale gas exploitation really means. Romania’s president Traian Basescu on Friday said investors with the US company Chevron were not the only party with an interest in Romania’s shale gas deposits. President Basescu went on to say that the Russian Federation and the energy company Gazprom want Romania not to capitalize on its shale gas resources.

The US is pulling back troops from its military base in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, at present used as a transit centre supporting US military operations in Afghanistan. Romania will take over the mission of ensuring the safe transport of US military in Afghanistan. A similar transit centre will be set up in Constanta. The Kyrgyzs Parliament this year has decided not to extend its contract with the US for lending out the military base in Manas, after Washington authorities have announced the withdrawal of all military troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa on Friday met with Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller at the US State Department and with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Space and Defense Policy Frank Rose. According to a press release made public on Saturday by the Romanian Defense Ministry, talks focused on the Romanian-US Strategic Partnership regarding the strengthening of Romania’s armed forces with F-16 fighter jets, as well as aspects pertaining to the activity of the international community and organizations in the field of eliminating Syria’s chemical weapon stockpiles.

The official ceremony marking the start of construction works for the anti-missile shield in Deveselu, southern Romania, will be held at the end of this month. Attending the event will be Undersecretary with the US Department of Defense James Miller, Mircea Dusa told Radio Romania News and Current Affairs. Minister Dusa said that as regards the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan via the military base in Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania has signed an agreement with the United States, whose terms will be established by a group of specialists. Mircea Dusa also said that next year US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel would come to Bucharest to attend the ceremony marking 10 years since Romania joined NATO.

The United States has called on the Syrian Government to grant immediate access to humanitarian aid convoys headed to famine-stricken areas in the capital Damascus. The convoys controlled by the rebels are under the assault of Government troops. Washington authorities say that due to the armed assault in the last month civilians in these areas are now deprived on basic food, water and medicine. The Syrian army has warned rebel troops to surrender or die of hunger. According to the BBC, the situation turned desperate when the Muslim clergy issued a religious decree allowing to eat animals such as cats or dogs in order to survive.