February 28, 2022

MEETING - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis on Monday met with the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, on the sidelines of the European Investment Bank Group Forum in Luxembourg. According to the Presidency, Klaus Iohannis praised the activity of the EBRD in Romania, in particular its support to the private sector by means of a wide array of financial and technical assistance instruments. Additionally, the president underscored the EBRD's key role in funding investment at local level as well, including to boost the absorption of EU funds. President Iohannis praised the EBRD's support to the development of Romania's capital markets. Klaus Iohannis also met with the president of the European Investment Bank Group, Werner Hoyer, and hailed the substantial contribution of this institution to the implementation of EU objectives and policies, particularly as regards investment in the public and private sectors. President Iohannis spoke of the excellent cooperation between the EIB and Romania, highlighting the fact that the Bank has been Bucharest's strategic partner for over 32 years, providing specialized technical assistance in a number of fields and funding major reform projects.

AGREEMENT - The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have reached an agreement that is expected to end trade disputes in Northern Ireland in the wake of Brexit. The two officials said the agreement marks a fresh start in bilateral relations. According to Radio Romania's London correspondent, Sunak and von der Leyen used an unprecedented cordial tone to announce the impossible: a new deal that would simplify trade with Northern Ireland at UK level, and that would also protect the EU's single market. Should the new agreement be ratified, trading with Northern Ireland will become easier, cheaper and faster. Romania's president Klaus Iohannis has hailed the new agreement on Twitter, stating that the EU and the UK remain key allies, devoted to tackling global challenges together.

UKRAINE - Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has admitted that the situation in Bakhmut, a city sieged by Russian invasion forces, is getting more difficult by the day. "The enemy is systematically destroying anything that can be used to reinforce our defenses", Zelensky said, who labeled Ukrainian servicemen involved in this battle "true heroes". As early as last summer, Moscow's troops have been trying to take Bakhmut, a key strategic settlement, that has become a symbol of the battle for the entire Donbas region. In a statement to the Russian television, the head of pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, claims that all access routes to the Ukrainian fortress in Bakhmut are in "firing range". Previously, the owner of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his mercenaries had captured the village of Yahidne, just north of the city.

VISIT - New projects in the energy sector are high on the agenda of the official visit paid by Romanian Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marcel Ciolacu to Azerbaijan. Marcel Ciolacu met in Baku with the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev. Talks focused on the contract for the delivery of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Romania over a year. The contract is also meant to support the Republic of Moldova as well, Marcel Ciolacu said.  The project for the transport of LNG and the ROMGAZ-SOCAR partnership for the construction of two terminals in the Black Sea have also been examined by the two officials. The underwater cable will be 1,200 km long and will transport as much as 1,000 megawatts, carrying electricity via Georgia under the Black Sea to Romania and then to Hungary and the rest of Europe. Azerbaijan is Romania's first partner in the South Caucasus, Marcel Ciolacu said.

WIZZ AIR - The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will suspend all flights in and out of Chișinău starting March 14 due to an "elevated risk" of crossing the Moldovan airspace, in the context of the war in Ukraine. The safety of passengers and operating crews remains the number one priority for Wizz Air, and the company did not take this decision easily, a press release reads. Starting March 14, Wizz Air will offer additional flights out of Iași, in the north, to support passengers from the Republic of Moldova. A new Iași-Berlin route will be established, while Wizz Air will supplement flights to Barcelona, Milan, Bergamo, Bologna, Rome, Dortmund, Larnaca, London and Treviso. (VP)