May 21, 2024

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 21.05.2024, 13:55

goVisit – The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is paying an official visit to Ankara today, at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The PM is accompanied by a delegation of ministers, in the context of which they will sign a series of agreements in the field of tourism, SMEs and urban planning. A joint meeting of the governments of the two states will also take place. Marcel Ciolacu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will sign the joint declaration regarding the setting up of the high-level Strategic Cooperation Council between the two countries. According to a press release of the Romanian government, the prime minister’s intention is to increase bilateral trade exchanges to 15 billion dollars through future projects in energy, transport, agriculture, agri-food industry and defense. Last year, bilateral trade amounted to over 10 billion dollars, and Turkey is Romania’s main economic partner outside the European Union. In the context of the visit, the Turkish authorities have today published in the Official Gazette a decree under which the Romanian citizens can enter Turkey for transit or for tourism purposes only with the ID. They can stay in Turkey for 90 days at the most.

Iran – Iran will hold elections on June 28, after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi. Today, the funeral ceremonies for the former president have begun near the place where he died on Sunday, following the crash of the helicopter he was in. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared five days of national mourning on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and appointed the First Vice President Mohammed Mokhbe as interim president.

Royalty – Her Majesty Margareta, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and His Royal Highness Prince Radu are paying a visit to Luxembourg these days, in order to emphasize “Romania’s role in the European Union and NATO and to support the European aspirations of the Republic of Moldova”. In the presence of His Royal Highness Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Her Majesty Margareta is giving a speech today at the Pierre Werner Institute on the security of the eastern borders of the EU and NATO. In the following days, the Custodian of the Crown and the Prince Consort will visit the University of Luxembourg and meet with students and staff from Romania. A visit is also scheduled to the Notre-Dame Saint-Sophie School, as well as to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, where they will meet the Romanians who work there. The program also includes a meeting with the members of the Romanian community in Luxembourg, as well as the inauguration of the photography exhibition “Contribution of the Royal Family to the consolidation of Romania’s role in NATO and the EU 2002-2023”.

Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan was voted the winner of the Heart Award, for her contribution in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers, according to the competition’s Instagram page. Ana Bogdan won two of the three matches played in April in the meeting with Ukraine, as the Romanian team came back from 0-2 to 3-2. Thus, Romania qualified for the first time to the final tournament of the competition. The Romanian team will face Japan in the round of 16 of the Billie Jean King Cup, and if they win, they will play in the quarterfinals with Italy. The final tournament will take place between November 12-20, in Seville. On the other hand, in Strasbourg, the pair made up of the Romanian player Monica Niculescu and the Spanish Cristina Bucşa qualified, on Monday, to the quarterfinals of the doubles event of the WTA 500 tournament, after defeating the Czech-Slovak pair Marie Bouzkova/Tereza Mihalikova, 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Niculescu and Bucşa will play against the Americans Ashlyn Kruger/Sloane Stephens.

Law – Penalties for trafficking in persons and minors, slavery or child pornography will no longer be suspended, according to a draft law that will receive the final vote in the Bucharest Chamber of Deputies. According to the new regulations, an increase in the penalties for these crimes will be applied. Thus, for slavery, child pornography and human trafficking, the prison sentence can reach up to 12 years, and if minors are involved, the sentence will be up to 20 years. We come back to that after the news.

Moldova – The Republic of Moldova signs, today, a security and defense pact with the European Union. Cooperation in this field is intensifying against the background of the war in Ukraine and in the context in which Chişinău accused Russia of waging a hybrid war against it. The security pact will be signed within the Association Council between the two parties and takes place on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council in Brussels. The collaboration thus extends on several security levels, from the military or cyber security to the fight against manipulation and disinformation, from border management to the fight against corruption. According to the Financial Times publication, the partnership with Brussels in the field of security and defense will allow the Republic of Moldova to exchange information and carry out joint military exercises, as well as to be included in the common arms procurement system of the EU. (LS)