March 13, 2022

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Newsroom, 13.03.2022, 13:55

VISIT The Romanian foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu is having talks in Bucharest today with his Israeli counterpart
Yair Lapid, focusing on the management of the effects of the Russian military
aggression in Russia. According to a news release issued by the foreign
ministry, Mr. Yair Lapid’s visit to Romania takes place at the invitation of
the Romanian minister, prompted by the deepening crisis in Ukraine and in the
context of the excellent cooperation with the Romanian authorities in the
evacuation of Israeli citizens from Ukraine. Israel is one of Romania’s main
partners in the Middle East, and strategic bilateral relations have developed
steadily over the past few years. According to the foreign ministry, talks will
also touch on the development of bilateral relations between the 2 countries,
with a focus on the political, economic and security areas. The 2 officials
will also assess preparations for the 3rd Romania-Israel joint government
meeting (G2G) scheduled to take place this year. During his visit to Romania,
the Israeli foreign minister will also have talks with PM Nicolae Ciucǎ.

UKRAINE The Romanian transport ministry launched an app for the Ukrainian
refugees. The app includes information in Ukrainian, English and Romanian on
the green transport corridors in Romania, covering areas like the road, railway
and air network, customs offices, train stations, petrol stations and airports. Ukrainian
refugees may travel free of charge in Romania, based on a government resolution
in this respect. Moreover, the emergency number 112 and the special children
emergency number, 119, are available for calls in Ukrainian as well. Additional
measures were taken in border checkpoints to prevent human trafficking. As of
Friday, another online platform has also been available, centralising
assistance offers for displaced Ukrainians. On Saturday, several cities in
Romania saw various solidarity actions with Ukraine. In Bucharest, the National
Arena hosted a charity concert for refugees, with over 35 Romanian and foreign
artists taking part, which raised some EUR 800,000. Solidarity events were also
organised in Constanţa, Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, Piatra Neamţ and Roman. Around 400,000
Ukrainian nationals have entered Romania since the start of the Russian
invasion. Many of them have already left for western Europe.

FOODSTUFF The agriculture minister Adrian Chesnoiu has a meeting today with
representatives of retail chains and Romanian sunflower oil producers, to
assess stocks and reserves. The meeting comes amid substantial amounts of
sunflower oil were purchased in recent days for fear that shops would run out
of this product. Speculations on the topic are fuelled by the fact that
war-affected Ukraine is the world’s biggest sunflower seed exporter. Romanian
authorities promised that Romania has sufficient foodstuff stocks, including
sunflower oil. They also recommend that people refrain from buying more than
they need, so that everybody may have access to basic food stuffs. Just days
before, for fear of skyrocketing fuel prices, unprecedented queuing was
reported in petrol stations. The previous weekend, foreign currency was heavily
purchased in Romania, amid rumours that the national currency would plummet. Romanian
authorities warned once again that such fake news is designed to create panic
among people.

CENSUS Beginning on March 14, for 4 months, data will be collected for a
population and household census in Romania. The operation is conducted every 10
years and is necessary for the production of official national and European
statistics. The census was originally scheduled to take place last year, but
was postponed over the COVID-19 pandemic. This year brings a novelty, in that
self-census options are available. Self-census is done online, based on a
simple procedure, according to the authorities. Citizens are to fill in an
online pre-registration form at www.recensamantromania.ro, followed by the
questionnaires for each member of the household. Those who do not want or
cannot fill in those forms will be assisted by census operators in door-to-door
visits. (A.M.P.)