May 18, 2018
Visit to Bucharest by prime minister of Croatia, Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu visits Chisinau
Newsroom, 18.05.2018, 13:44
Visit — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Friday received in Bucharest the prime minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic. The Croat PM also met with his Romanian counterpart Viorica Dancila with whom he signed a statement of intent on the consolidation of bilateral cooperation in the defense and security fields. PM Dancila underlined that education, agriculture and tourism remained important domains for bilateral cooperation. In turn, the Croat PM pointed out that bilateral relations have been very good lately, with trade exchanges exceeding 300 million Euros. The two officials expressed their countries’ interest in the stability and security of the Western Balkans and reiterated their firm support for the continuation of the EU enlargement process.
Chisinau – The European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu has said in Chisinau that the EU wanted to remain a strong partner committed to supporting the development of the Republic of Moldova. She made this statement fresh from a meeting with the Moldovan PM Pavel Filip. Commissioner Cretu pointed out that it was important for the Republic of Moldova to focus on the implementation of reforms in key sectors such as economic development, the business environment, energy and justice. In turn, PM Filip reiterated that the Moldovan government’s objective was Moldova’s European integration. On Saturday, Corina Cretu will pay a visit to Ungheni that was chosen as one of the European Villages of 2018 where citizens can find information about the EU support granted to the Republic of Moldova, especially through projects with European funding aimed at developing their regions.
Eurostat — In Romania in the first 3 months of 2018 exports have grown up to 16.9 billion Euros while imports went up to 19.7 billion — show preliminary estimates of Eurostat. Thus, Romania’s trade balance deficit stood at 2.8 billion Euros as compared to 2.3 billion Euros in the same period of last year. In another move, Romania is among the EU states with the lowest percentage of the GDP allotted to defense in 2016. According to Eurostat, in 2016 the 28 EU members allotted almost 1.3% of the GDP to defense. As of 2017 Romania has started to allot 2% of the GDP to defense, under its NATO membership obligations.
Communism — The Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Sighetu Marmatiei (in the north) received the European Heritage Label, thus becoming the first institution in Romania with this status. 20 years ago the Council of Europe put the Memorial in Sighet on the list of main sites for preserving the memory of the continent alongside the Memorial in Auschwitz from Poland and the Peace Memorial from Normandy, France. The prison in Sighetu Marmatiei, that had turned into ruin, was transformed by means of civil society projects into a museum to honor to memory of the victims of Communism.
Museum Night — In Romania Museum Night will take place this year on May 19. Participating in the event are more than 180 museums and partner organizations from Bucharest and other cities of Romania. This year’s event also includes projects meant to offer a ‘more friendly’ interaction between museums and visitors that provide digital museum routes that can be explored for free. The European Museum Night has reached its 14th edition. It was initiated by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. ctims of Communism.
Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Simona Help will take on, today, the French Caroline Garcia (7 WTA) in the quarterfinals of the Rome tournament. The tournament offers prizes worth a total of 2.7 million Euros. In the eighth finals Halep took advantage of the withdrawal of American Madison Keys (14 WTA) due to an injury. Last year Simona Halep got as far as the final of the Rome tournament. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
