COVID-19 – The
\nnumber of Covid infections in Romania stands at 90 thousand with a death toll
\nover 37 hundred. The country’s president Klaus Iohannis has again appealed for
\ncompliance with prevention rules and regulations as worrying figures have been
\nreported during the pandemic. The president believes the school year can begin
\non September 14 in Romania, but unless the situation improves, authorities are
\nconsidering alternative scenarios. <\/p>\n
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\n
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EU – The European Commission has greenlit an
\ninvestment worth \u20ac875 million from the Cohesion Fund to build the first phase
\nof the Sibiu-Pitesti motorway in central Romania. This will be the first
\nmotorway crossing the Carpathians, allowing for a better connectivity along the
\nRhine-Danube corridor. The project will help ease traffic in Romania, boost
\nroad traffic safety, reduce travel times and the costs for the transport of
\npassengers and goods, the EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform, Elisa
\nFerreira has said. The European Commission has also adopted a funding worth
\n\u20ac578 million from the Cohesion Fund to improve the Romania’s disaster response
\ncapacity. This investment will help improve the terrestrial, air and maritime
\nresponse through the purchase of new equipment and training of personnel.<\/p>\n
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\n
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MEETING – Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on
\nThursday met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, as part of his second visit
\nto Israel. Talks focused on the contribution of the Romanian community in
\nIsrael to the progress of Israeli society. Minister Aurescu said Romanians in
\nIsrael serve as a bridge between the two countries, stressing the need to
\npreserve their Romanian cultural identity, particularly among the youth. At the
\nsame time, the two officials discussed the prospect of the peacemaking process
\nin the Middle East. The Romanian Foreign Minister reiterated Romania’s
\nreadiness to support the positive evolution of this file. Minister Aurescu also
\nmet with Ofir Akunis, Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation. On this
\noccasion, the two officials expressed a common interest to intensify cooperation
\nin the economic sector, with a focus on the need to identify projects that
\nshould boost the two countries’ economies, including in the field of science,
\nresearch and innovation. Also on Thursday, Bogdan Aurescu paid an official
\nvisit to Palestine, where he had consultations with Prime Minister Mohammad
\nShtayyeh on bilateral relations and cooperation prospects, as well as on the
\npeace-making process in the region. The Romanian official expressed hope to
\ndevelop cooperation with Palestine in such fields as the economy, education or
\nhome affairs. On Wednesday, the Romanian Foreign Minister also met with Prime
\nMinister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two agreed to intensify bilateral political
\ndialogue. Additionally, Bogdan Aurescu also met with the Israeli Foreign
\nMinister, Gabi Ashkenazi. The two signed a cooperation agreement in the fields
\nof culture, education and sports and decided to set up a joint task force to
\nextend economic and trade cooperation. <\/p>\n
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\n
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HELICOPTERS – The Romanian company
\nROMAERO and Sikorsky, which is part of the American group Lockheed Martin, have
\nsigned a Memorandum of Understanding with a view to setting up a Regional
\nCenter for Black Hawk Equipping and Maintenance for Central Europe. Black Hawk
\nis the most commonly used multi-mission helicopter in the world. ROMAERO will
\nequip the helicopters both for military missions as well as for search and
\nrescue operations, emergency medical services, command and control missions or
\ntransport of officials. The aircraft will be delivered from the PZL Mielec
\nfactory in Poland, the biggest production plant owned by Lockheed Martin
\noutside the United States. Minister of Economy, Energy and the Business Sector,
\nVirgil Popescu, said the Memorandum creates the conditions to implement the
\nstrategic partnerships Romania has signed with the United States and Poland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
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NAVALNY – Western
\nleaders and institutions have firmly condemned the poisoning of Russian
\nopposition leader Alexei Navalny and called on Moscow to provide explanations
\nand assurances that the culprits will be brought to justice. Romania’s Foreign
\nMinister Bogdan Aurescu says that Navalny’s poisoning is completely
\nunacceptable and has called for a thorough and impartial investigation. On
\nWednesday, Germany announced that Navalny, presently in a hospital in Berlin,
\nwas poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. The use of chemical weapons under any
\ncircumstances, is completely unacceptable and a breach of international law,
\nthe head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell said. The White House has also
\nvoiced concern regarding the incident pledging cooperation with its allies to
\nbring the culprits to justice. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian
\ngovernment, says the authorities in Moscow are ready to cooperate with the
\nGerman executive to uncover the circumstances of Navalny’s poisoning. This
\nfourth-generation nerve agent has been used to eliminate numerous Kremlin
\ncritics, although Moscow has always denied any allegation. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
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TENNIS -
\nRomanian tennis player Patricia Tig on Thursday lost to Donna Vekic of Croatia
\nin the second round at the US Open. Another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, is
\nplaying Johanna Konta of Great Britain. In the men’s doubles, Horia Tecau and
\nJean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands are playing Marcela Arevalo of San
\nSalvador and Jonny O’Mara of Great Britain. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nD. Bilt & V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35721,28963,35374,35719,35722,29231,35720],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-black-hawk-helicopters","tag-bogdan-aurescu","tag-covid-19","tag-eu-funding","tag-navalny-poisoning","tag-us-open","tag-visit-to-israel-and-palestine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n