July 19, 2022

Click here for a roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 19.07.2022, 13:55

TALKS The president of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas is on an official
visit to Romania today, at the invitation of president Klaus Iohannis. The 2
leaders will discuss ways to encourage and strengthen bilateral cooperation in
areas of mutual interest, particularly political dialogue, home affairs,
education, economy and trade. The agenda of talks also includes regional
developments in the Middle East, the progress and prospects of the Peace
Process, the security situation and the consequences of Russia’s illegal
aggression against Ukraine, the Romanian Presidency says. Also today, president
Iohannis is scheduled to receive Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and
minister for defence, Simon Coveney.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu had a meeting on
Monday with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, on the sidelines of the
Foreign Affairs Council held in Brussels. According to the Romanian Foreign
Ministry, the Greek party thanked Romania for the assistance given by Romanian
fire-fighters in containing the recent wildfires in Greece. The 2 officials
also discussed the situation in Ukraine, with a focus on the consequences and impact
at regional and EU level of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked military campaign
in that country. They highlighted the importance of ensuring energy security, a
sector in which Romania and Greece have converging interests and approaches.
Bogdan Aurescu welcomed the consolidation of bilateral dialogue and cooperation
in this field, mentioning the recent opening of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas
interconnecting pipeline, a major step in consolidating the energy security of
the countries in the region.

EDUCATION Romanian students won 3rd place in the world, after
Singapore and Lithuania, at the International Geography Olympiad. As many as
209 students from 54 countries took part in this year’s competition. This
success comes after the outstanding performances of Romanian students in other
international competitions. They won 2nd place at the International
Physics Olympiad organised online by Switzerland, while Romania’s team won 1st
place in Europe and 5th in the world at the International Maths
Olympiad in Oslo, out of 105 competing countries.

LOAN The World Bank
and Romania Tuesday signed a EUR 600 mln development policy loan, with a focus
on inclusive green economic growth, the WB announced. This is the first of 2
such financing operations, and is accompanied by USD 24.2 mln non-reimbursable
financial assistance. The WB is currently running 10 investment projects in
Romania, totalling USD 1.78 bln, in addition to 31 technical and analytical
assistance projects worth USD 104 mln.

COVID The Romanian
health ministry Tuesday announced 7,658 new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the last
24 hours, over 4,000 more than on Monday. The number of patients in intensive
care has also increased to 136, and 9 people died from the disease in 24 hours.

EU ACCESSION The European Union Tuesday opened the accession
negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, the president of the European
Commission, Ursula von der Leyen announced. The 27 EU member states Monday
night agreed to open accession talks, after Skopje and Sofia signed a protocol
that eliminates the last remaining obstacles. North Macedonia has been a
candidate country since 2005, and Albania since 2014.

UKRAINE The president of Russia Vladimir Putin and the president of
Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are attending a summit in Tehran today, together
with their Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi. According to the BBC, following
the sanctions introduced by the West, Putin will use this opportunity to prove
that Moscow still has strong allies. Putin will also have separate meetings
with the leaders of the two states. Turkey negotiated with Russia and Ukraine
to unblock Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, while Iran and Russia are
looking for new trade routes to bypass sanctions, the BBC also says. Meanwhile,
in Ukraine, Russian forces carried on the shelling of Nikopol, with scores of
attacks launched during the night. Several people, including a child, were also
wounded after Russian missiles hit Odessa.

DROUGHT Nearly half of the EU territory is facing drought risks, the
European Commission warns, as a new heat wave has hit the continent. France,
Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy will likely have to handle a drop in
agricultural yield, especially grains, the Commission explains. Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia will also be affected. In turn, the
European Commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarčič said that the worst
is yet to come. Europe is struggling with an extreme heat wave these days, with
temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius reported in France and the UK, and even
43 degrees in some areas in the north of Spain. Wildfires
also destroyed thousands of hectares of land in
France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, forcing thousands of residents and tourists
out of those regions. (AMP)