March 19, 2023

VISIT The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis, currently on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, has traveled today to Masdar City, a model of sustainable urban development with solutions centered around energy efficiency and environment protection. The Romanian official was presented solutions for transport and urban cooling and ventilation, building energy generation and optimum usage of natural light in schools and research institutions. The solutions tested in Masdar City may be an inspiration for other cities increasingly interested in sustainability, including in Romania. Contributions to these solutions come, among others, from Romanian researchers as well, affiliated to research institutes in Masdar City, the Romanian presidency said in a news release. President Iohannis will be in the UAE until Tuesday, at the invitation of his counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The main goals of the visit include strengthening the political and diplomatic dialogue on topics of mutual interest, encouraging bilateral economic relations, which are already on a significant positive trend, and attracting investments in the Romanian economy through projects in fields like infrastructure, energy, climate change, cybersecurity and food security.

REFUGEES The Romanian Border Police Inspectorate General announced that on Saturday as many as 86,342 people entered Romania using border checkpoints around the country. Of them, 8,510 were Ukrainian nationals. Since February 10, 2022, two weeks before the Russian invasion of their country, nearly 3.8 million Ukrainian citizens entered Romania. Most of them have travelled further on to western European countries, but around 100,000 of them have chosen to stay in Romania, according to the authorities in Bucharest.

CHILDREN Border police prevented over 5,300 Romanian underage nationals from crossing the border out of the country in 2022, because their parents or the adults accompanying them were unable to produce the documents required for taking minors out of the country. The interior ministry announced on Sunday that the number is twice as big as in the previous year. Also, since the beginning of 2023, more than 800 Romanian minors have been stopped at the border because they lacked valid travel documents, the accompanying parent lacked the consent of the other parent or because the adults accompanying them, other than their parents, failed to present clear criminal records. Under the law, underage Romanian nationals can only leave the country based on a valid travel document, passport or identity card, provided that they are accompanied by an adult and have the consent of their parents.

RUGBY Romania's national rugby team takes on Spain today in a match for the 3rd place in Rugby Europe Championship 2023, the second-tier European competition after Six Nations. The match is played in Badajoz, Spain. The competition final, pitting Georgia against Portugal, is played tonight as well. In August Romania's rugby team is scheduled to play test matches against Georgia and Italy, ahead of the World Cup in France, organised between September 8 and October 28. Romania will play in Group B, alongside Ireland, South Africa, Scotland and Tonga.

HANDBALL Romania's women's handball champions, Rapid Bucharest, are playing today away from home against Slovenia's Krim Ljubljana, in the first leg of the playoffs for the Champions' League quarter-finals. The second leg takes place in Bucharest. This is Rapid's first presence in the Champions' League, and the match against the Slovenian champions is also the team's first march in European competitions with the Danish manager Kim Rasmussen, who replaced Carlos Viver (Spain). 150 Romanian fans will attend the game. If they qualify into the quarter-finals, Rapid will be facing Kristiansand (Norway). Romania's vice-champions, CSM Bucharest, have already qualified into the quarter-finals, where they will take on the winner of the playoff between the French side Brest and the Danish team Esbjerg. (AMP)