September 15, 2014 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 15.09.2014, 20:20
Romanian president Traian Basescu met in Bucharest on Monday the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, with whom he talked about the energy security of the two countries. The two officials have also tackled security issues in the Black Sea region, following the recent events in Ukraine. Earlier, Mammadyarov had held talks with his Romanian counterpart Titus Corlatean. The head of the Romanian diplomacy recalled the strategic partnership and the good cooperation Romania has with Azerbaijan, and stood for an increased presence of Azerbaijani investors on the Romanian market, and also for a more active involvement of the Romanian companies in Azerbaijan. In turn Elmar Mammadyarov said the Romanian-Azerbaijani relations are developing well and highlighted several cooperation opportunities in the field of energy.
Russia will trim by 10% its gas deliveries to Romania beginning on Tuesday, the Romanian minister delegate for energy Razvan Nicolescu has said. According to him, the decision made by Gazprom will be valid until Sunday. Nicolescu has added that the Romanians will not facing the risk of gas shortage this winter irrespective of the developments in the region. Moscow had also reduced gas deliveries to Romania by 5% on Friday, without any explanation to the Romanian authorities, but the situation went back to normal on Saturday and Sunday. Unlike most of EU members, which are completely relying on Russian gas, Romania’s gas imports cover only 10-15% of its domestic consumption.
Several domestic and international flights of Romanian Air Company TAROM were cancelled on Monday, after part of its pilots had gone on an unofficial strike, claiming higher pay. In the first half of the year, TAROM, a company of 2,000 employees, carried over 1 million passengers on domestic and international routes. Also on Monday, some Air France flights on the Henry Coanda airport in Bucharest were affected by the strike staged by the pilots’ main trade unions during the week. The protesters are contesting a project focusing on the development of the company’s low-cost branch Transavia.
Around 3.2 million students in primary and secondary schools in Romania started the school year on Monday. The Ministry of Education has announced a number of changes, such as new subjects, digital textbooks for first and second grade, optional programs for 5th to 12th grade, and stricter ethical guidelines for teachers. The national evaluation before high school and the high school graduation exam have undergone no changes.
Representatives of the Romanian government and the National Bank started this week technical consultations with the IMF and the European Commission, held for the first time in Brussels. They are meeting to analyze recent economic revolutions, Romania’s progress in implementing the requirements of the latest loan agreement, as well as issues related to the second budget adjustment for this year. The last week, PM Victor Ponta said that official negotiations for evaluating the loan agreement would start in Bucharest in late November.
