October 5, 2015 UPDATE

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România Internațional, 05.10.2015, 12:30

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Monday said he
wished that relations between Romania and Germany got more consistency. He
mentioned in this respect an enlarged political dialogue, stepping up trade
exchanges and developing cultural relations. Attending the German Unity Day in
Bucharest, the head of the Romanian state said the two countries are enjoying
privileged bilateral relations and a very good cooperation within the EU and
NATO. Iohannis said the two communities, Romanian and German, are truly deepening
the relations between the two countries. Germany’s ambassador to Romania,
Werner Hans Lauk also hailed the excellent level of the bilateral relations.
According to the German official, the Romanian-German cooperation has
intensified this year. Among other things he mentioned president Iohannis’
visit to Berlin.

Russia’s air strikes against targets in
Syria are not likely to settle the conflict but to worsen it, Romanian Prime
Minister Victor Ponta has said in his latest migration address in the Chamber
of Deputies in Bucharest. The Romanian official went on to say that a short and
medium term solution would be to boost EU support for Turkey and Jordan, where
most refugees have arrived. According to Ponta, Romania is not presently facing
a migration pressure similar to that faced by other countries in Europe.
Romania has so far registered 944 asylum applications, their number being slightly
on the rise as compared to 2014. The Romanian official has added that Bucharest
will comply with the EU decision, implementing the Justice and Home Affairs
Council’s decision in September, when Romania was allotted an additional number
of 2475 refugees besides the 1785 it pledged to accommodate. Ponta recalled
that Romania had set up two refugee camps in Lunga and Moravita at the Serbian
border, each with a capacity of 500 people. The first four Syrian refugees who
arrived in Romania were taken over on Monday by the Regional Center for
Accommodation and Procedures of Asylum Seekers based in Timisoara, Western
Romania. The Syrians, who were traveling illegally, were bound for Germany but
eventually asked for asylum in Romania.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on
Tuesday will go to Seville to participate in an international conference on
anti-missile defence staged by the Missile Defense Agency of the United States.
According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Aurescu will be underlining the
strategic significance of the Romanian-US anti-missile defence project, which
represents Romania’s consistent contribution to developing NATO’s defence
capabilities against ballistic missiles. On this occasion the Romanian official
will be seeing the incumbent director of the Missile Defense Agency, Vice
Admiral James D. Syring.

On Tuesday in Leicester,
Romania’s national rugby squad will be up against Canada in their third pool D
match of the World Cup currently underway in England. The Oaks, as the Romanian
players are nicknamed, have so far conceded defeats to both France and Ireland
in their first games, 38-11 and 44-10 respectively and have one more game in
hand against Italy. Canada lost its first three games in this world cup
edition, 7-50 against Ireland, 18-23 against Italy and 18-41 against France.

NATO
secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Monday denounced the violation of Turkey’s
air space by Russian jet fighters, which he described as unacceptable.
Stoltenberg’s statement comes after a series of incidents involving Russian and
Turkish planes at the Turkish-Syrian border. In another development Moscow
announced on Monday that in the past 24 hours Russian planes had carried out 25
raids against Islamic States positions in Syria. The USA and its allies have
reported 16 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.
However, they blame Moscow for its indiscriminate strikes, which are also
targeting anti-government fighters. According to some NGOs, at least 39
civilians and 14 Jihadists have been killed since the beginning of Russia’s air
strikes.