October 1, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 01.10.2024, 20:05
VISAS Romania formally meets all the technical conditions to be part of the Visa Waiver programme, the country’s ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru has announced on a social network. Our assessment, based on the number of visa applications this year as well as the significantly downward trend in recent years, is that Romania went under the 3% ceiling of the rejection rate’, the ambassador also said. According to him, the first Romanians will be able to travel without visas in the USA most likely in the first part of the next year. If all conditions and preparations are done successfully, the programme could come into effect in 2025’, the US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec said on Tuesday. However, according to the US official, there are still major steps to be taken in the next months in order to see whether Romania is eligible for the Visa Waiver programme. In turn, Prime Minister Ciolacu said during his meeting with the US official in Bucharest that the government would remain involved in everything that means the accomplishment of all procedures needed to have Romania included in the Visa Waiver programme.
NATO The former Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, on Tuesday became the new NATO Secretary General during a ceremony held at the North-Atlantic Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. Rutte, who took over from the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, thanked the allies for trusting him with the role. Rutte detailed the three priorities of his four-year mandate: support for Ukraine, consolidating the collective allied defence and developing the international partnerships NATO already concluded with third countries. From Bucharest, Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, has conveyed a congratulation message to the newly-appointed NATO Secretary General, in which he has also expressed his gratitude for the activity of the former NATO Chief, Jens Stoltenberg.
ME Israeli raids in southern Lebanon on Tuesday triggered a new wave of international concern. Also on Tuesday, the Israeli army announced it had hit several Hezbollah targets in capital Beirut, although it had earlier announced that its troops would limit their operations only to regions close to the common border. Numerous airline companies have cancelled their flights to the area and Western countries have started to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon. Bucharest has announced that over 11 hundred Romanian citizens and family members have registered at Romania’s embassy in Beirut. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a level 8-9 warning for this country in October last year, which translates as ”Avoid any trip to Lebanon”. The warning is still in place due to the major security risks in the area. The Romanian diplomacy has firmly recommended the Romanian citizens on the Lebanese territory to leave the country by means of the flights still available.
PARLIAMENT Convened in a joint session on Tuesday, the Romanian deputies and senators appointed the members of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania. According to political sources, the current governor Mugur Isărescu, who has been holding this position since 1990, is supported for a new mandate at the helm of BNR. Also on Tuesday, the Parliament submitted for approval two requests from President Klaus Iohannis – the participation of the Romanian Army in the NATO Security Assistance and Training Mission for Ukraine and the establishment, on the Romania territory, of a maritime training facility for the Ukrainian personnel. The two Parliament chambers will be informed, on the other hand, about the approval of the transit, through Romania, of equipment and material goods donated by Sweden to Ukraine, but also about the presence on the Romanian territory, for a period of two years, of an American contingent of naval forces for special operations.
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