February 5, 2023 UPDATE

Cairo - The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, met, on Sunday, in Cairo, with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The talks focused on topics such as bilateral cooperation in the economic and social fields, as well as the impact of the Russian military aggression on Ukraine. The Egyptian president thanked, on this occasion, for the support provided by Romania for the evacuation from Ukraine of the more than one thousand repatriated Egyptian students last year, as well as for facilitating the export of Ukrainian grains to Egypt. Nicolae Ciucă highlighted the need to support Romanian farmers through access to the production of fertilizers from Egypt necessary for agricultural crops. At the same time, the two agreed to increase Romanian farmers' grain exports to the Egyptian market. On Sunday, the Romanian Prime Minister also participated in the Egypt-Romania Business Forum, as well as in the signing ceremony of several bilateral documents. On Saturday, Nicolae Ciucă discussed with his Egyptian counterpart, Mostafa Madbouly, about the intensification of bilateral relations, both at the political, commercial and economic levels. He also had a meeting with the representatives of the Romanian community in Egypt and with Egyptian citizens who studied in Romania.

EU - Starting on February 5, the European Union has completely suspended imports of Russian refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel and fuel oil, in the context of the war in Ukraine. Until now, the embargo targeted crude oil. Also as of February 5, another European measure came into force, taken together with the allied states, the G7 group of highly industrialized states as well as Australia. The measure is about limiting the price of Russian oil products transported by sea. European limits provide a maximum of 100 dollars per barrel for expensive products, such as diesel and gasoline, and a maximum of 45 dollars per barrel for less refined ones, such as fuel oil. These measures come after a previous cap at 60 dollars per barrel of Russian crude oil imposed on December 5. Beyond this ceiling, Western companies were prohibited from providing maritime services to Russia, given that the G7 countries provide for approximately 90% of the global transport.

Gas - In Romania, the natural gas stock in deposits is currently 1.880 billion cubic meters, i.e. 61% of the their capacity. According to Depogaz, the main underground natural gas storage operator in Romania, the country has no problem in securing natural gas for the cold season, this stock being by 780 million cubic meters higher than last year. The latest statistics show that Romania has the fastest emptying rate of stored gas deposits in the EU.

Weather - In Romania, the National Meteorological Administration has issued a cold weather alert valid in all regions, until Friday, as well as Yellow Code Alerts for snow and blizzard, for areas in 27 counties, valid until Monday evening. According to meteorologists, in the Southern and Eastern Carpathians, it will snow locally and temporarily, and the wind speed will increase at 60 - 70 km/h, and at altitudes above 1,700 m, the gusts will exceed 80 - 90 km /h. Until Friday, the weather will be cold in all regions, with mostly negative highs. It will be frosty at night and in the morning in the intra-Carpathian regions, as well as on smaller areas and in the rest of the territory. The minimum temperatures will range between -14 and -4 degrees, and between -20 and -18 degrees C in isolated areas.

Tennis - The Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse reached the last qualifications round of the tennis tournament in Abu Dhabi. That happened following the abandonment of the Czech Tereza Martincova, at the score of 6-3, 3-0 for Gabriela Ruse. The Romanian Sorana Cîrstea entered the main singles draw directly and will play in the first round against the Ukrainian Marta Kostiuk. The winner will face the Swiss Belinda Bencic, the second seed, in the round of 16. Monica Niculescu will play in the doubles, where she pairs with the Japanese Miyu Kato, the opponents in the first round being Ulrikke Eikeri (Norway) and Alexa Guarachi (Chile). (LS)