August 5, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 05.08.2016, 12:05

GOVERNMENT SECURITIES The Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos
has announced today, at the end of the subscription campaign for the Centenar
government securities, that the issue has been a success and it has attracted
more than 700 million lei from citizens. He has also said that more than 20,000
people participated in the campaign, which could be seen as the start of a
process with the help of which Romanians will get familiarized with a set of
financial tools. The Romanian Finance Ministry issued government securities for
citizens in 2015, for the first time after 10 years, with a nominal value of
1,000 lei. Most investors are from the urban area, with Bucharest on top of the
subscription list.

INFLATION The National Bank of Romania has
revised downwards this year’s inflation forecast. According to the Central Bank
Governor Mugur Isarescu, inflation will remain negative until the end of 2016,
although in May the estimated rate was 0.6%. Isarescu has stated that in 2017
inflation will return to the variation range targeted by the National Bank, and
in 2018 it will reach the upper end of the range.

UNTOLD FESTIVAL Untold,
the biggest music festival in Romania, continues in Cluj Napoca, central Romania.
Performing today, among others, will be Hardwell, Scooter, Tujamo, Jamie Jones,
Seth Troxler, Chase And Status Dj Set. On Thursday, the first day of the
festival, over 100,000 people watched the concerts given by INNA, Faithless,
Tiesto and Dimitri Vegas, dubbed the world’s best DJ. Until August 7th,
the audience will have the opportunity to see over 150 international artists
and some of the most en vogue DJs in the world. The organisers of the event
estimate that the turnout will stand at some 350,000 people in four days of
festival.

EUROPALIA The Romanian Foreign Minister
Lazar Comanescu has held talks in Bucharest with the director of the EUROPALIA
International Festival, Baroness Kristine De Mulder, who paid a visit to
Romania over August 2nd – 5th. Comanescu has mentioned
Romania’s successful covering of the stages needed for it to be the guest of
the 2019 edition of the festival, which is the most important such event in
Belgium. Launched in Brussels in 1969, Europalia is an international art biennale,
which promotes the heritage and cultural diversity of the guest country. In
2017, the guest of honour will be Indonesia. At the previous editions, the
guests have been Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland,
Russia, China, Brazil, India and Turkey.

TURKEY The US Secretary of State John
Kerry is going to pay a visit to Turkey on August 24th, the Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has announced today. The American official’s
visit will take place approximately one month since the failed military coup in
Turkey, which rendered bilateral relations rather tense. Ankara has repeatedly
called on Washington to extradite preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused by the
Turkish authorities of having masterminded the coup. The US has called on
Ankara to provide evidence of Gülen’s involvement. On Thursday, a court in
Istanbul issued a warrant for the arrest of the former imam, which is the first
step in the process of starting a formal request for his extradition. The US
Department of State has stated that the US is analysing the new documents
submitted by Turkey. Fethullah Gülen, who’s been living in the American state of
Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any involvement in the failed coup.

RIO GAMES As of today until August 21st, Rio de Janeiro is playing host to the 31st Olympic Games. Organizers have promised that the opening ceremony will be the greatest celebration in the history of Brazil, with the famous samba schools parade taking pride of place. The Olympic Games in Rio will enjoy the participation of over 10,000 athletes from 207 countries, including Romania. As a first, Kosovo, South Sudan and a refugee team will also take part in the games. Aiming to win at least 6 medals, Romania is participating with 100 athletes in 15 sporting disciplines. The first events in which Romanian athletes will compete are held on Saturday, namely fencing, table tennis, cycling, judo, canoeing, gymnastics, tennis and epee. The current edition of the Olympic Games is marked by a huge doping scandal mainly affecting the Russian team, very close to being excluded from the competition, but also by worries over the Zika virus.

FOOTBALL Today in Nyon, Romania’s football champion Astra Giurgiu and
vice-champion Steaua Bucharest are going to find out who they will play against
in the Europa League and Champions League play-off. None of the two squads is
first seed. On Wednesday, Steaua qualified for the Champion Leagues play-off by
defeating, on home turf, Sparta Prague 2-0. Astra, however, failed to qualify
for the play-off, as it was defeated 0-3 by FC Copenhagen away from home.
Still, Astra will play in the Europa League play off. At this competition,
another three Romanian squads have failed to qualified for the next round:
Pandurii Targu-Jiu,Viitoru and CSM Iasi.