March 5, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 05.03.2023, 13:58

Visit. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis
travels to Japan on Monday for a three-day official visit during which he will
meet emperor Naruhito and prime minister Fumio Kishida. The main purpose of the
visit is to elevate the bilateral relationship to the level of strategic
partnership, with a joint declaration to be signed to this effect. After Japan,
president Iohannis will go on a state visit to Singapore, the first at this
level in the last 20 years. The trip is aimed at initiating bilateral
investment projects, with Romania currently the European Union’s third biggest
provider of IT services to Singapore.

Danube Delta. Romanian and Ukrainian
experts will meet on Monday to work on the details of a plan to carry out
measurements on the Chilia branch and Bystroye canal on the Danube. This is the
second technical discussion between the two sides after that on Friday, when
the transport ministry in Bucharest said Ukraine would allow Romania to begin
measurements on 15th March. The activity is expected to take 10 days
and clarify whether Ukraine has conducted works to deepen Bystroye canal.
Ukraine said it merely carried out legal, maintenance works, but Romania claims
the Ukrainians dredged more than the allowed depth of 3.5 metres, which would
have a major impact on the ecosystem of the Danube Delta, which is a UNESCO
world heritage site.

Accident. Thousands of people demonstrated today outside the
Parliament headquarters in Athens in the wake of a rail disaster that killed 57
people. Violent clashes were reported between the demonstrators and the police,
with France Presse noting that the demonstrators set thrash cans on fire and threw
Molotov cocktails, while the police responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
A number of protests have been held in recent days in Greece, where public
discontent is growing with the government’s negligence, which is seen as being
at the root of the disaster. Earlier, Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis asked for forgiveness from the families of the victims. In the meantime, the
authorities continue investigations into the cause of the tragedy. On Saturday,
Romania’s foreign ministry said one Romanian national was identified among the
victims of the crash.

EU. The speaker of the European
Parliament Roberta Metsola voiced hope that Ukraine would this year begin talks
on its EU accession. She met president Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv on Saturday, saying
she was impressed with the reforms initiated by Ukraine after being awarded the
status of EU candidate country last year. After the meeting, president Zelensky
said Ukraine was trying to finalise the implementation of the European
Commission’s recommendations as soon as possible and begin EU accession talks
this year.

Book fair. Today is the last day of
the Radio Romania Gaudeamus Book Fair in Craiova, in the south, which began on
1st March. Around 14,000 different titles have been on offer, as
well as music and games, online competitions and over 20 debates and book
launches and presentations. As a first in the fair’s almost 3-decade long
history, the honorary president was a young author aged 12, Jonathan Agostino
Ottobrino, who has already published two books and won many prizes. Radio
Romania’s book fair will next travel to Cluj Napoca in April, Oradea in May,
Sibiu in August and Iaşi in September. (CM)