April 2, 2014

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

Corina Cristea, 02.04.2014, 12:00

SUMMIT – As from today, Romania’s president Traian Basescu is attending the EU-Africa summit in Brussels. President Basescu said that the goal of the summit was the consolidation of political and economic cooperation between the European Union and the African states. On that occasion, the Action Plan for the 2014-2017 period will be adopted. This is the fourth EU-Africa summit where discussions will focus on the theme “Investing in people, prosperity and peace” .The previous summit took place in Tripoli, in 2010.

UKRAINE – Kiev will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseni Iateniuk reiterated today, underscoring that Ukraine wanted to resume its relations with Russia. There are issues that the two countries need to discuss, particularly those related to energy and two-way trade, Iateniuk made it clear. On Tuesday, Russia increased the price of gas delivered to Ukraine by 44%, thus putting greater financial pressure on the authorities in Kiev that expect an international bail out programme. Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers, Andrii Descita and Serghei Lavrov respectively had a meeting on March 24th, the first at that level since the onset of the political crisis in Kiev, on the sidelines of the Hague summit on nuclear security. After that meeting, Russia cancelled its negotiations with Ukraine at deputy foreign ministers’ level scheduled in Minsk, the capital of Belarus on April 4th.

NATO – NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after the meeting of NATO foreign ministers that the alliance had suspended all forms of practical, military or civilian cooperation with Russia ; he added however that the diplomatic lines of communication with that country remained open. In another development, NATO intends to further cooperate with Russia in Afghanistan, where there is a joint project for training anti-drug officers and the Afghan Helicopter Maintenance Trust Fund joint project. Moreover, Russia allows that its territory be transited by NATO forces that are going to pull out of Afghanistan this year. In the context of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO wants joint military exercises with the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaidjan aimed at a bigger opening to Eastern Europe

FAO – As from today, Bucharest hosts the FAO European Regional Conference. The conference opened by FAO director general Jose Graziano da Silva and Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta will focus on “Food losses and waste” in Europe and Central Asia. Participating are over 350 delegates of 55 countries in Europe and Central Asia. A FAO member since the early 1960s, Romania hosted such a regional conference in 1976 too.

EXCISE DUTY ON FUEL – The Romanian government today endorses the measure whereby the state will return to transporters 4 of the 7 eurocents representing the new fuel excise duty enforced on April 1st. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that in this way, transport companies would further be competitive and the impact of the new duty would be diminished. The sums of money collected from the new excise duty will be used to fund infrastructure projects, particularly the building of motorways. The measure is challenged by president Traian Basescu, who said that the fiscal-budgetary policy pursued by the Ponta government jointly with the IMF was wrong. The chief of the IMF Mission for Romania, Andrea Schaechter said however that the economic programme that had been agreed upon with Romania was on the right track.

GENEVA EXHIBITION – As from today, Romania is participating in the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, the best-known world event in the field of inventions. A press release of the Romanian Education Ministry says that Romania is participating with over 20 inventions and has 3 representatives in the international jury of the competition. Romania won last year’s competition with a plane scanning system identifying smuggled objects.

STRIKE – The air traffic on the Bucharest Otopeni International Airport is impaired by the strike today called by the pilots of the German companies Lufthansa and German Wings. According to the airport board, some 20 flights between Bucharest and the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich risk being cancelled. Considering the strike scheduled to end on April 4th, the Romanian Foreign Ministry recommends to the Romanian citizens to consult the two companies’ timetables.