Sea Shield – The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Thursday attended the multinational exercise ‘Sea Shield 24’, organized by the Romanian Naval Forces. More than 2,200 soldiers and 135 maritime and river vessels, aircraft and vehicles are participating, until April 21, in the training on the Black Sea, in the coastal area, as well as in the Danube Delta. Soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Turkey and the USA are participating in the exercise. The training consists of missions to combat illegal activities at sea and river, maritime and river control, search and rescue at sea, providing assistance to a ship in difficulty and ensuring security at the level of critical infrastructure. ‘Sea Shield 24’ is the most complex event conducted by the Romanian Naval Forces in 2024 and contributes to the promotion of Romania’s initiatives and interests at the regional and international levels, as well as to increasing the level of interoperability between the participating forces.
Summit – The Summit of the Leaders of the World Congress of Ukrainians, organized by the Union of Ukrainians in Romania in partnership with the World Congress of Ukrainians, is taking place at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, starting on Friday. The event runs until April 15. Important for the Ukrainian diaspora, the meeting aims at establishing the major directions and priorities for the next years of the World Congress of Ukrainians, in the context of unprecedented new challenges for the Ukrainian people. The organizers also write, in a communiqué, that they are discussing the continuation of support for Ukraine – humanitarian, political, military, financial and educational – which is extremely necessary in the context of the war started by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022. The event is being attended, among others, by officials and diplomats from Romania and Ukraine, representatives of Ukrainian organizations from over 70 countries, personalities of the academia and members of the Ukrainian community in Romania.
Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan will face, tonight, Lesia Ţurenko in the first singles match of the meeting between the Romanian and Ukrainian teams, from Fernandina Beach (Florida, USA), in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. Then, in the second singles match, Jaqueline Cristian will meet Elina Svitolina. On Saturday, Ana Bogdan will face Svitolina, and the last singles match will pit Jaqueline Cristian against Lesia Ţurenko. The doubles match will oppose the Ukrainian twins Liudmila and Nadia Kicenok and the young Mara Gae / Anca Todoni. Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0, in Kraljevo, in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1, in Vilnius.
Elections – In Romania, 15 parties and electoral or political alliances and seven independents have registered their candidacies for the European Parliament elections at the Central Electoral Bureau within the term stipulated by law. Among them are the Social Democratic Party (PSD) – National Liberal Party (PNL) electoral alliance (made up of the governing parties), the United Right Alliance made up of the Save Romania Union (USR) – the People’s Movement Party (PMP) – The Force of the Right, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians – AUR, the S.O.S. Romania and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania – UDMR. The deadline for submitting the lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections and their files was April 10. The European Parliament elections will take place on June 9, together with the local ones.
Athenaeum – The Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest is today hosting the opening of the photo exhibition “Festival tales”, an artistic initiative which promotes the ‘George Enescu’ International Festival from a new perspective. Therefore, by means of 48 photographs, visitors are invited on a visual foray into one of the most appreciated classical music festivals in the world. The festival was initiated in 1958 in memory of the great Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu and is held once every two years. In time, the Festival, hosted mainly by the Romanian Athenaeum and the Radio Hall, was attended by prestigious orchestras and musicians from all over the world. The next edition of the festival is scheduled in 2025.
Summit – Romania will continue to support Ukraine at all levels, as long as necessary, said the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the summit of the Three Seas Initiative, held in the capital of Lithuania. He had a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he assured of continued support in the fight against the Russian invaders. Iohannis said that, without Romania’s aid to Ukrainian grain exports, ‘there would have been huge problems not only in Ukraine, but also where these agricultural products are exported’. He also spoke about the future Romania-Ukraine security agreement, which is being analyzed and which will create a better framework for collaboration between the two countries. At the summit in Vilnius, Iohannis also referred to the road and rail connection projects of the Black and Baltic Seas, which he said are of “special importance for Romania”. (LS)