July 19, 2017 UPDATE
The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest condemnes the proclamation, by the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, of a new state in eastern Ukraine.
Newsroom, 19.07.2017, 19:48
MEETING — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday received the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nobuo Kishi. The two officials discussed about new Japanese investments in Romania and the perspectives to consolidate the partnership between the two countries in the fields of trade, education and culture. Also on Wednesday, during a meeting with the Japanese official, Romanian PM Mihai Tudose talked about the opportunities that Romania offers investors, such as solid economic growth, well trained labour force and a competitive IT sector.
UKRAINE — The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest condemned on Wednesday the proclamation on July 18th, by the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, of a new state in eastern Ukraine. The proposed country would be called Malorossiya, a tsarist-era name meaning “Little Russia”. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the creation of this new state is a blatant violation of international law and of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. On Tuesday, the Kiev authorities, and also France and Germany, deemed the separatists’ move as unacceptable and warned that it undermines the peace process and the Minsk Accord.
BOMB ALERT — On Wednesday, Hungarian police halted and vacated all 18 international trains circulating in Hungary in response to a bomb threat. Police said they received a call from an unidentified man that explosives had been planted on international trains circulating in Hungary. The searches have seriously disturbed international railway traffic. Several trains circulating between Romania, Hungary and Austria have reported delays of several hours.
VISIT – The Romanian prime minister Mihai Tudose travels to the majority Romanian speaking Republic of Moldova on Friday. He is due to meet this countrys pro-western prime minister Pavel Filip for talks on expanding bilateral cooperation and Bucharests support for Moldovas European path. The media in Chisinau note that the agenda of the Romanian prime minister does not include talks with the republics pro-Russian and Socialist president, Igor Dodon. Moldova is the second foreign trip made by Tudose since he took office at the end of June. He first travelled to Brussels last week, where he told EU officials that Romania has “the immense task of ensuring that Moldova stays on its pro-European course.”
NATO – Around 1,000 military from 16 NATO member states are participating in an air defence exercise known as TOBRUQ LEGACY 2017. Drills were held on Wednesday as part of this exercise at the shooting range in Capul Midia, south-eastern Romania, and involved troops from Romania, the US and Slovenia. TOBRUQ LEGACY 2017 forms part of the Saber Guardian 2017 exercise. Aimed at enhancing interoperability between different air defence forces in Europe, Saber Guardian is the largest exercise carried out in this part of Europe, involving 25,000 military from 22 allied and partner states.
SERBIA – Romania supports neighbouring Serbia in its bid to join the European Union and is ready to intensify cooperation for a further development of its traditionally good relations with Serbia, said Romanias ambassador in Belgrade Oana Cristina Popa during talks with the Serbian labour minister Zoran Đorđević. The latter thanked Bucharest for its support and called for better cooperation in his field. A constant supporter of Serbias territorial integrity, Romania is one of the five EU member states yet to recognise the independence of the southern province of Kosovo with a majority Albanian population, but has urged Belgrade to respect the rights of the sizeable ethnic Romanian minority in Vojvodina and in Timoc Valley, in the east.
RANKING – Romania is one of the countries to make greatest progress in terms of the ability to adjust to significant changes, shows a report published on Wednesday by the consultancy firm KPMG and quoted by Reuters. Romania now ranks 49th, up 32 places from 2015, in a ranking made by KPMG. Romania is behind countries like the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, and ahead of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. The study measures the ability of 135 states to respond to short-term shocks and long-term tendencies such as natural disasters, economic crises and climate changes.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
