October 10, 2014
A look at some of the top stories in Romania today.
România Internațional, 10.10.2014, 12:00
Romania’s prime minister Victor Ponta today travels to the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet republic with a majority Romanian speaking population. He will be having talks in Chisinau with his counterpart, Iurie Leanca about new cooperation and assistance projects and the implementation of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Moldova. The Romanian prime minister will also travel to Cahul, in the south-west, on the border with Romania, to visit a number of cultural and education facilities built with funds allocated by the Romanian government.
Romania is prepared to deal with Ebola, although the risk of an infection is very low, said the state secretary in the Romanian interior ministry, Raed Arafat. The Romanian authorities are setting up a reception centre for Ebola patients as the virus is spreading across the world.
The American army on Friday took over the command of the military base in Deveselu, southern Romania, which will host elements of the NATO defence shield. An Aegis radar system and around 25 interceptors will be installed here to become operational in 2015. Over the last two years, the US has allocated about 100 million dollars for the modernisation of the base in Deveselu. Romania agreed to host elements of the defence shield for Europe in September 2011.
The Petrotel refinery in south-western Romania, near Ploiesti, which is owned by the Russian oil giant Lukoil today said it resumed production. The refinery suspended its activity a week ago, following searches by Romanian prosecutors as part of investigations into a fiscal evasion and money laundering case, whose damages are estimated at 230 million euros. Lukoil Romania has a market share of around 20% and a network of 300 petrol stations.
The pro-western president of the Republic of Moldova Nicolae Timofti is today attending the Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Minsk. He said he wasn’t expecting much from the summit and was only travelling to the Belarussian capital to consolidate bilateral relations with certain states in this regional structure, which brings together the former Soviet republics with the exception of the three Baltic states and Georgia.
Romania are playing against Hungary on Saturday at home as part of the preliminary games for the 2016 European Championship in France. Hosted by Bucharest’s National Arena stadium, the game is fully booked. On Tuesday, Romania will play against Finland. Other Group F teams are Northern Ireland, the Faeroe Islands and Greece. In their first group game, Romania defeated Greece 1-nil away. In the last 14 years, Romania have only once qualified for a final tournament, namely in 2008, for the European Championships hosted by Austria and Switzerland.
