February 5, 2023
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 05.02.2023, 13:55
Cairo – The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, met, on Sunday, in Cairo, with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The talks focused on topics such as bilateral cooperation in the economic and social fields, as well as the impact of the Russian military aggression on Ukraine. The Egyptian president thanked, on this occasion, for the support provided by Romania for the evacuation from Ukraine of the more than one thousand repatriated Egyptian students last year, as well as for facilitating the export of Ukrainian grain to Egypt. In this context, Nicolae Ciucă highlighted the need to support Romanian farmers through access to the production of fertilizers from Egypt necessary for agricultural crops. At the same time, the two agreed to increase Romanian farmers grain exports to the Egyptian market. On Sunday, the Romanian Prime Minister also participated in the Egypt-Romania Business Forum, as well as in the signing ceremony of several bilateral documents. On Saturday, Nicolae Ciucă discussed with his Egyptian counterpart, Mostafa Madbouly, about the intensification of bilateral relations, both at the political, commercial and economic levels. He also had a meeting with representatives of the Romanian community in Egypt and with Egyptian citizens who studied in Romania.
EU – The European Union totally suspended, as of Sunday, imports of Russian refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel or fuel oil, in the context of the war in Ukraine. Another European measure, taken together with the allied states, the G7 group of highly industrialized states and Australia also enters into force on Sunday. The measure is about limiting the price of Russian oil products transported by sea. European limits provide a maximum of 100 dollars per barrel for expensive products, such as diesel oil and gasoline, and a maximum of 45 dollars per barrel for less refined ones, such as fuel oil. These measures come after a previous capping at 60 dollars per barrel of Russian crude oil imposed on December 5. Beyond this ceiling, Western companies were prohibited from providing maritime services to Russia, given that the G7 countries provide approximately 90% of the global transport.
Weather – Romania is under a cold wave alert. Meteorologists have issued two yellow code alerts for bad weather valid until Monday evening. The first alert targets the Southern and Eastern Carpathians, where it will still snow locally and temporarily, and the wind will intensify with speeds reaching 60 – 70 km/h, and at altitudes above 1,700 m, the gusts will exceed 80 – 90 km/h. The other yellow code alert targets counties in the east and southeast of the country, where there will be temporary stronger winds. In the last 24 hours, firefighters intervened in several localities in 18 counties and in the city of Bucharest, to cope with the effects of snow, blizzard and strong winds, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) announced on Sunday. In several counties there are still problems with the supply of electricity. Firefighters intervened to get several vehicles unstuck from the snow, to clear dozens of trees and several electricity poles that fell and damaged several cars. Several national and county roads in the southeast, east and west were blocked by snow. The highs of the day are generally between minus 6 and 1 degree Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 2 degrees C.
Kyiv – Ukraine was the target of numerous Russian bombings on Saturday, with Kyiv claiming at the same time that it managed to counter an attack on Bahmut, a city in the east that the Ukrainian president called a fortress, AFP reports. According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry the Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in eastern Ukraine. In the south of the Zaporizhzhia province (south), shells fell on some civil infrastructures located on the territories of dozens of localities. Also, the bombings continued in Kherson, an important city also in the south, captured and then abandoned by the Russians. The United States on Friday announced a new 2.2 billion dollar military aid package for Ukraine, which includes missiles that will practically double the range of the Ukrainian strike force against the Russians, AFP and Reuters report. Moreover, Portugal announced on Saturday that it would send Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. Also on Saturday, Canada sent the first Leopard 2 tank of those it promised to Ukraine, the Minister Defense Anita Anand announced. At the end of last month, Canada announced the decision to deliver four German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. (LS)
