April 3, 2014 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Florentin Căpitănescu, 03.04.2014, 16:15
Africa is a market where Romania can be competitive, Romanian president Traian Basescu said in Brussels on Thursday at the end of EU-Africa summit. Basescu added that Romania is interested mainly in the development of the energy-producing sector in Africa. During the meeting, an action plan for the period between 2014-2017 was adopted, in which parties have pledged to cooperate in several fields, such as security and human rights.
Calin Popescu Tariceanu, president of the Romanian Senate, met his French counterpart, Jean Pierre Bel in Paris on Thursday. The two officials mainly tackled Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone. On this occasion, the Romanian official underlined that Bucharest had met all the technical accession criteria for joining Europe’s border-free zone. Tariceanu and Bel also tackled the situation in Ukraine voicing concern and firmly condemning Russia’s actions in the Crimean Peninsula.
Moldovan citizens who own biometric passports will no longer require a visa to travel in the Schengen Area as of April 28, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Kurkulas announced. In turn, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom said that this prospect would strengthen economic, social and cultural ties between the EU and the Republic of Molodva. The EU official went on to say that a strong political commitment and an efficient implementation of reforms can lead to concrete results, which might serve as example to other countries in the region.
The British film “The Selfish Giant”, directed by Clio Barnard, has won the Grand Prize of the 10th edition of the Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF). The British feature also grabbed the Prize of the Young Jury, of which three high school students were part. “The Selfish Giant” looks at the British working class from a social perspective, against the backdrop of the story of two kids who try to make a living through any means necessary. The Prize for Best Directing went to Sarah Polley for her feature “Our Stories”, while the award for best image went to Romanian Oleg Mutu for the Georgian production “In Bloom”.
IMF director Christine Lagarde has said in Washington that global economic recovery is too weak at present. The world is confronted with the worst economic recession in the past 100 years and is now at a critical crossroads, Lagarde has warned. The IMF official considers that although global economy has stabilized, it might still be heading for years of sub-par growth. Christine Lagarde has called on the world’s governments to restructure their economies, to curb their unemployment and foreign debt levels in order to boost investor trust. In January, the IMF estimated a global economic growth of 3.7% this year, as compared to 3% last year.
The Pentagon has suspended all talks with Moscow regarding the US anti-ballistic shield in Europe following this country’s armed intervention in Ukraine, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO policy Elaine Bunn told RIA Novosti news agency. At the 2010 Lisbon Treaty, Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate regarding the US anti-ballistic shield in Europe, although talks subsequently collapsed after Moscow demanded guarantees the project would not affect its nuclear capacity. Elements of the US anti-ballistic shield will be deployed in Deveselu, southern Romania, aimed at shielding Europe against short- and medium-range tactical ballistic missiles.
