June 3, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 03.06.2020, 20:20

TALKS Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic
Orban on Wednesday spoke on the phone with the Crown Prince of the Emirate of
Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan upon the latter’s initiative.
The two officials tackled the deepening and enlargement of bilateral economic
cooperation. According to a government communiqué, the Romanian Prime Minister
has underlined the very good dialogue the authorities in Bucharest have with
the Emirate companies operating in Romania and has mentioned the numerous
investment opportunities in various fields of the Romanian economy. The Prime
Minister has thanked the Sheikh for the generous support the United Arab
Emirates offered to Romania to help the latter fight the Covid pandemic.

COVID -19 Another 8 people infected with the new coronavirus
have died bringing the death toll to 1.296. The number of infections exceeds
19.600, but over 13.800 people have been cured. The authorities say the
country is on a downward trend as far as new cases are concerned, with
increasingly fewer serious cases and a low community transmission rate. Now is
the time to start testing the population to establish the scale of infection,
said the health minister Nelu Tataru. He signed an order to approve this
survey, which is to be coordinated by the National Institute for Public Health.
The testing will be carried out from June to September and will involve the
harvesting of 29,000 samples, with the first results expected in autumn. The
health minister says this survey is necessary to be able to establish future
public health protection measures.

MEETING Romania’s president Klaus
Iohannis and the country’s Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Wednesday held talks
on European funds and the justice laws. According to Iohannis, Romania will be
trying to attract significant funds from the European Union, which are to be
used for reinvigorating the country’s economy and for investment in highways,
railways and green energy. The funds are also to be used for improving the
country’s education and healthcare systems. According to Iohannis, there is a
multi-annual draft budget drawn up by the European Commission, but this is not
definitive and to be negotiated. As for the justice laws, Iohannis announced
that the government would create a series of projects aimed at mending the laws
amended by the PSD and their Parliament allies. The Romanian official also announced
a new series of consultations with experts in the field due to take place in
the following weeks.

REPATRIATION The foreign ministry in Bucharest says that on 1st
June it facilitated the repatriation of 70 Romanian citizens from Turkey and
another 190 from the UK, as they were stranded abroad following travel
restrictions to curb the pandemic. The Romanian authorities also facilitated
the return of two Turkish citizens, two Greek citizens and an Iranian citizen
who had their residence in Romania. As part of the move, 124 foreign nationals
were able to travel to the UK and 58 Turkish nationals to Turkey.

MIDDLE EAST In a telephone
conversation with his Israeli counterpart Gabriel Ashkenazi, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu
conveyed Romania’s full readiness to deepen and expand bilateral cooperation in
all areas of mutual interest. The two officials agreed to hold, most likely in
the first part of next year, a third joint meeting of their respective
cabinets. They also hailed the excellent level of Romanian-Israeli relations,
which have been consolidated over seven decades of uninterrupted diplomatic
ties and expressed their appreciation for Israel’s community of Romanian
origin. The Romanian foreign minister reiterated his country’s constant support
for the consolidation of the EU-Israel dialogue, including with respect to the
peace process in the Middle East. In this context, minister Aurescu reaffirmed
Romania’s support for a sustainable solution founded on the co-existence, in
peace and security, of two states, Israel and Palestine.

(translated by bill)