December 30, 2013
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Leyla Cheamil, 30.12.2013, 13:54
A promotion campaign for Romanian tourism at home as well as abroad will be run in 2014. According to the National Tourism Association, 25 million Euro are to be earmarked for street and mass media ads. Tenders will be set up to promote Romanian tourism with TV stations and the printed media at home and abroad, in the USA, Germany, France Great Britain and Italy. The National Tourism Agency also stated that the campaign was aimed at enhancing the notoriety of Romania’s brand, while European funds are the source of the 25 million Euro. Data made public by the National Statistics Institute have revealed that in the first ten months of 2013, around 1.5 million foreign tourists traveled to Romania, that is 3.3 % more than in the similar period of 2012.
The European Commission has conformed the fact that Romania topped the European Union’s 2013 macroeconomic performance rankings, said Cristian Socol, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta’ s advisor for macroeconomic issues. Socol went on to say that Romania’s macroeconomic picture for 2013 confirms the country’s sustainable convergence towards the European Union’s developed states. Among Romania’s strongest points in 2013 were the qualitative fiscal consolidation (the budget deficit standing at 2.5 % of the GDP, the lowest post-accession deficit), the strong deflation process (the lowest inflation rate after 1989) the adjustment of the foreign deficit (the current account deficit standing at no more than 2% of the GDP), the economic growth exceeding all expectations, the fourfold growth of the European funds absorption rate and the record high of the industrial and agricultural production, as well of the volume of exports.
The Israeli Government tonight will release the third contingent of Palestinian detainees, according to the commitments the country made as part of the direct Israeli-Palestinian dialogue in late 2013. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the four-stage release of 104 Palestinian detainees. Te release of the detainees has occurred shortly ahead of this coming Thursday’s arrival in the Middle east of US Secretary of State John Kerry, on a new peace mission. This is John Kerry’s tenth visit to Israel and the West Bank, from March 2013 to this day.
Security measures have been tightened across Russia’s main railway stations and airports, while for the next 15 days regional authorities have instated a high-level terrorism alert in the country’s south-western region of Volgograd. Two coups have been reported in Volgograd in the last 24 hours. This morning at least 15 people have been killed in a trolley bus blast, while this past Sunday a suicide attack left 17 people dead and at least 45 others wounded. The international community has condemned the attacks. Bucharest has extended a letter of condolence to Moscow, paying tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks.
