September 21, 2017 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 21.09.2017, 19:33
UKRAINE – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday said he cancelled his visit to Ukraine slated for October, after the Ukrainian Parliament passed the new education law. The president decribes the law as going against the mutual good intentions and severely limiting the access of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. President Iohannis also cancelled his meeting with the Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, which would have taken place at the end of this month in Bucharest. On Wednesday, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest passed a joint declaration on Ukraines new education law saying it “drastically limits the right to education in their mother tongue for ethnic Romanians in Ukraine.
DAMAGES – The government decided to provide some 8 million euros to compensate for the damage caused by the extreme weather in western Romania. According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, Wednesdays rainfalls and strong wind caused damages in the capital Bucharest and 38 towns and villages in 15 other counties. 3 people were also killed. More than 4,000 troops from the armys fire service and 1,000 pieces of equipment were on duty in the last 24 hours to help limit and eliminate the effects of bad weather, including evacuating the water from flooded homes and courtyards and removing uprooted trees. Tens of roofs were partly or completely damaged. Road travel was temporarily disrupted.
CETA – Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu and Canadian Ambassador to Bucharest Kevin Hamilton hailed the temporary enactment on September 21 of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada. The two officials expressed confidence that the new agreement would substantially boost two-way trade and mutual investment. According to Ambassador Hamilton, CETA will create new large-scale opportunities both for EU Member States and for Canada. Apart from cutting tariffs for exports, the agreement will also step up the export of services and investments between Canada and Romania and will result in the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Minister Negrescu praised the successful implementation of the first phase for liberalizing visas for Romanian citizens travelling to Canada as of May 1 and highlighted the importance of the second phase, meaning completely lifting visas starting December 1, 2017.
WEF – Universities, high schools and foreign language centers from all over the world will present their offers in Romania during the 27th edition of World Education Fair, which starts on Friday. The fair will be held in Timisoara, Bucharest, Iasi, Galati and Constanta. In the past 9 years, some 10,000 Romanian students chose to study abroad taking up offers presented in the fair.
INVICTUS – The team of Romanian military injured in operations left for Toronto, Canada, on Thursday to take part in the Invictus Games. The 15 members of the team will compete in six individual sports disciplines: archery, athletics, indoor rowing, weightlifting, cycling and swimming.
SHOPPING – Romanians spent some 2,5 billion euros on online shopping in 2017, reads a market analysis released on Thursday. According to the study, the average price of an online purchase stood at 60 euros. Over 60% of Romanian Internet users prefer to shop online, the analysis also shows.
TENNIS –Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, world no. 52, defeated the American player Nicole Gibb to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Seoul worth almost 227,000 dollars. Cirstea will next face Thailands Luksika Kumkhum for a place in the semifinals. Cirstea will also play the doubles semifinals together with Latvias Jelena Ostapenko, where they will face the British-Australian pair Katy Dunne and Priscilla Hon. (Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)
