September 24, 2013
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Corina Cristea, 24.09.2013, 12:13
Strengthening cooperation within the European Union, energy security and the Eastern Partnership were high on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting between the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaitë. The Lithuanian President voiced her country’s support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area. In his turn, PM Victor Ponta said Romania would support Lithuania’s candidacy for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Ponta pointed out that both countries need to better use the EU funds to improve their infrastructure.
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean voiced Romania’s wish to take over, as of 2016, the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Minister Corlatean met in New York with representatives of the Jewish communities in the United States that hailed the initiative. Corlatean reiterated Bucharest’s pledge to take responsibility for its past and condemn anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Corlatean ‘s meeting with representatives of the Jewish communities in the United States took place against the background of his participation in the opening session of the UN General Assembly.
The Romanian Health Ministry is trying to find solutions to the medical staff’s problems that argue the system is chronically under-financed. Protesters picketed outside the health and finance ministries on Tuesday asking for bigger salaries. The medical staff might call an all-out strike in November, unless their demands are met. The budget earmarked for the health system this year is one of the biggest so far, of 4.5% of the GDP, but protesters want its level lifted to 6% of the GDP, to cover more of their needs.
In his address to the UN General Assembly, the United States President Barack Obama called for international enforcement on Syrias chemical weapons, announced face-to-face talks with Iran and reitered his commitment to seeing through the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Earlier on Tuesday, in his opening address, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon talked about the threats that the world is faced with, especially those related to climate change. Ban Ki-moon urged all states to stop fuelling the bloodshed in Syria and to end the arms flow to all the parties, saying he was looking forward to the imminent adoption of an enforceable and binding Security Council resolution on chemical weapons. Among the other topics on the agenda of the UN General Assembly are the Iranian nuclear programme and the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Romania holds one of the vicepresident seats at the current session of the UN General Assembly.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep qualified on Tuesday to the 3rd round of the Tokyo tournament worth 2,369,000 dollars. In the second round Halep defeated Germany’s Andrea Petovici and in the round of sixteen will meet the American Venus Williams. The latter succeeded to beat the competition’s favourite, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 6-2, 6-4. The other Romania athlete in the competition, Sorana Carstea, made it to the round of sixteen and will be up against the Russian Svetlana Kuznetova.
