February 14, 2023
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Newsroom, 14.02.2023, 13:55
AMBASSADOR The new US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Ann Kavalec is today
presenting her diplomatic credentials in Bucharest. The US diplomat is to be
received by Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and will be meeting the president
of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu. Kathleen Ann Kavalec arrived in
Romania last week, when she was welcomed by the head of the Romanian diplomacy,
Bogdan Aurescu. Also today, the ambassadors of Turkey, Ozgur Kivanc Altan, of
Slovakia, Peter Hatiar and of Mexico, Amparo Erendira Aguiano Rodriguez are
expected to present their diplomatic credentials to president Klaus Iohannis.
INS According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in
January, the annual inflation rate in Romania went down to 15.1% from a 16.5%
in December 2022. Prices in food products increased over 22% in December while
non-food products by 12%. Services also saw a 10% increase in their prices. Romania’s
Central Bank expects the inflation rate to go down faster than initially
predicted and reach single digits in the last quarter of the year thanks to the
latest schemes of capping and subsidizing energy prices. According to the same
sources, the Romanian economy saw a 4.8% growth last year. The European
Commission on Monday forecast a 4.5% economic growth for Romania in 2022 and
2.5% this year.
RESPONSE The European Parliament has voiced solidarity with the
victims of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last week and has issued a
statement entitled The European Response to the Earthquakes in Turkey and
Syria’. The document has been presented by the European Parliament president
Roberta Metsola, who says that the European Civil Protection Mechanism has been
activated immediately and humanitarian aid dispatched. The EU Commissioner for
Crisis Management, Slovenian Janez Lenarčič has announced a donors’ conference
and the MEPs held a minute of silence in the memory of the victims of the disaster.
In the meantime, rescue teams are fighting to find survivors in spite of the
small chances 8 days after the earthquake. The death toll has exceeded 31
thousand in Turkey and 57 hundred in Syria.
PLANES Two cargo planes of the Romanian Air Forces carrying
goods for the victims of the earthquake of February 6th are taking
off today from Bucharest. One of this planes is to touch down in Gaziantep,
Turkey and the other in Beirut, Lebanon as Syria is still under sanctions due
to the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Asad, which asked for international
help only a couple of days ago. Romania has also dispatched humanitarian aid to
Turkey by means of its railway network. The first freight train loaded with
goods, which left Romania on February 11th, has already reached its
destination. In another development, a team from the dog training center in Craiova,
southern Romania, has also left for Turkey, a country Romania is presently helping
with rescue teams and necessity goods.
WEATHER Temperatures in Romania are higher than usual for this time of the year
and the sky is overcast mostly in the northern regions. Precipitations have
been reported on small areas in the north-east, east, north and the west of the
country. Moderate breeze has also been reported in some regions and the highs
of the day range between zero and 10 degrees centigrade. The noon reading in
Bucharest was 7 degrees.
(bill)
