September 23, 2014
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România Internațional, 23.09.2014, 12:00
Today is the last day when the candidates running for Romania’s presidential seat can register with the Central Electoral Bureau. So far 8 people have registered their candidacies. Teodor Melescanu registered Tuesday his candidacy after resigning from the position of director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service. The other candidates for the presidential seat are the Social Democratic leader and PM Victor Ponta, the Liberal leader Klaus Iohannis representing the opposition Christian Liberal Alliance, the speaker of the Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, a former justice minister and independent euro MP Monica Macovei and Elena Udrea, a former minister and leader of the People’s Movement Party. The first round of the presidential election will be held on November 2nd and the second round on November 16th.
In 2015 Romania should give foreign investors a signal regarding investments predictability in this country, said Tuesday the Romanian President Traian Basescu, at the Forbes economic forum under way in Bucharest. The president added that after the extremely tough measures taken between 2009-2011, Romania again reported economic growth and has reached macro-economic balance, although there have emerged the first signs of recession. According to Romania’s president the country should use the resources it has at its disposal for investments and creating jobs. President Basescu has shown that under the current budget framework Romania has at its disposal European cohesion funds worth 19 billion euros, but it has only managed to absorb 37.2% of them.
Romania’s PM is paying as of Tuesday until Friday an official visit to the US, to participate in the UN General Assembly and hold talks on economic issues with the main American energy companies. The PM is accompanied by the foreign and energy ministers. At the UN General Assembly hosted by New York the Romanian PM will deliver a speech on Romania’s stand regarding the Ukrainian crisis and terrorism. The Romanian officials will also hold talks with the representatives of the main American energy companies in an attempt to persuade other investors in this key domain to come to Romania.
Tuesday sees the start, in New York, of the 69th UN General Assembly. The summit was convened by American president Barack Obama. The main topics under discussion are international terrorism and the UN activity in the past year. An environmental conference will also be held on the occasion. Participating in the summit are heads of state and government, foreign ministers, high-ranking officials, business and media representatives.
More than 20 Islamic State fighters were killed Tuesday in Syria after the US and its allies launched the first air strikes targeting the organization’s positions. The Pentagon pointed out that they used fighter planes, bombers and cruise missiles, the strikes mainly targeting the Raqa province, the Islamic State’s main bastion, as well as targets on the border with Iraq. The American officials said that Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar are involved in the operations. The Islamic State is an organization stemming from Al Qaida whose aim is to create an Islamic state in the Sunni regions in Iraq and Syria. It is accused of many crimes, among which public executions.
