20 January, 2013
A look at the main stories in Romania today.
România Internațional, 20.01.2014, 12:00
During his current state visit to Israel, Romania’s president Traian Băsescu has today been received by his counterpart Shimon Peres. The former expressed his conviction that Israel would do its best to ensure peace in the region. Traian Băsescu also talked about the excellent cooperation between the two states in the field of military technology and the fight against terrorism, as well as cross-border crime. President Shimon Peres emphasised that peace is not easy to obtain and that Israel would spare no efforts to bring peace and development in the area. President Băsescu is also having talks today with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Romania’s foreign minister Titus Corlăţean is today attending in Brussels a meeting of the EU External Affairs Council which looks at major EU external policy issues, such as the recent developments south of the Union’s borders, in particular in Syria and Egypt. The stage of Middle East peace talks will also be analysed, as well as the Union’s role in the process. According to a Romanian foreign ministry press release, EU foreign ministers will also tackle the relationship with the Russian Federation in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit hosted by Brussels on the 27th and 28th of January.
The Romanian minister delegate for energy Constantin Niţă is today meeting with Moldova’s prime minister Iurie Leancă and the economy minister Valeriu Lazăr in Chişinău. Talks will tackle energy projects, in particular the Iaşi-Ungheni pipeline, which will interconnect Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The pipeline, whose building started last year, will be more than 43 km long and will be able to supply a maximum of 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year, which is more than what Moldova uses in a year.
The Association of Business People in Romania have called on the government to support, during its forthcoming talks with the International Monetary Fund, tax exemption on reinvested profit, an increase in funding for job-generating programmes and a lower salary tax to boost economic development. A joint mission of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the World Bank will be in Bucharest between the 21st of January and the 5th of February.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, seeded 11th at the Australian Open, has qualified to the tournament’s quarter finals for the first time in her career. She defeated Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, number 8 in the WTA ranking, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0. In her next match, Halep will meet Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, seeded 24th, who defeated the number 3 seed Maria Sharapova in the 4th round. The Romanian-Indian pair Horia Tecău and Sania Mirza, seeded 6th, have also made it to the quarter finals in Melbourne in the mixed doubles.
