Radio România Internațional

Tag: African tour

  • November 23, 2023 UPDATE

    November 23, 2023 UPDATE

    AFRICAN TOUR – The president of
    Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday ended his tour of Africa with his visit in
    Senegal. The president previously visited Kenya, Tanzania and Cape Verde. In a
    press briefing held jointly with his counterpart from Senegal, Macky Sall,
    Klaus Iohannis said Romania supports African nations in their efforts to
    develop capabilities to ensure national security. I have highlighted the need
    for stability in Sahel, where Senegal plays a key role, the president said,
    adding that Senegal is a priority for Romania in Africa. The two officials signed three documents
    regarding the management of emergency situations, health and education
    cooperation. The president said he has put Romania back on the African radar.
    I have recuperated everything that has been all but lost, a valuable
    cooperation between Romania and its African partners. Not only will this
    strategy spell positive effects for Romania and the countries I have visited,
    but it will produce clear-cut results in EU relations with African nations,
    relations between the European Union and the African Union, president Iohannis
    said.




    AID – The government
    announced it will provide emergency aid consisting of accommodation and warm
    meals to the families evacuated from Gaza, irrespective of citizenship. 400 EUR
    will be provided to a single person or to a family of five every month, while
    families with more than five members will receive 600 EUR for accommodation
    expenses. An additional food allowance worth 120 EUR will be paid to every
    individual. The aid will be provided over a maximum period of four months
    starting November. A group of 12 Romanian citizens and members of their
    families were evacuated from Gaza into Egypt on Wednesday evening, crossing the
    Rafah checkpoint, the Foreign Ministry Announced. This takes the total number
    of citizens evacuated from Gaza since the outbreak of hostilities in the region
    to 249.




    GOVERNMENT – 60,000 households
    from Romania can apply for European funding capped at 10,000 EUR to buy and
    install photovoltaic panels to improve energy efficiency, Prime Minister Marcel
    Ciolacu has announced. The funds are provided under the REPowerEU programme,
    where Romania has been allotted 1.4 bln EUR. The government will earmark over
    700 mln EUR to ensure the good functioning of the healthcare system until the
    end of the year and some 40 mln EUR to cover hospital expenses, Marcel Ciolacu
    also said, adding that next week the Finance Minister will disburse the 40 mln
    EUR allotted for November. The overall cap on public guarantees as part of the
    SME Invest state-subsidized scheme will be increased by nearly 800 mln EUR, the
    Romanian Prime Minister also said.




    GAUDEAMUS
    – The 30th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair, organized by Radio
    Romania, is running in Bucharest until Sunday. A large variety of titles and up
    to 50% discounts await visitors. The National Cultural Fund Administration on
    Thursday launched the project titled To me. Self-Development Writing
    Workshops, teaching special writing skills to pupils. Two of the participants
    have already published their own volumes. Dozens of other events are also held
    on the sidelines of the fair. (VP)








  • November 21, 2023 UPDATE

    November 21, 2023 UPDATE

    Investments — The European Commission has approved the modification of Romanias National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects announced on Tuesday in Bucharest. According to the line minister, Adrian Câciu, the modified form no longer includes the limitation of 9.4% of the gross domestic product for the expenses of the public pension system. The elimination of this ceiling was also announced by the PM Marcel Ciolacu. On the other hand, Romanias modified plan attaches great importance to the green transition, allocating over 44% of the funds, compared to 41% in the original plan, for measures that support climate objectives. Also, the allocation of funds for the country’s digital transition increases from 20.5% to 21.8%. At the beginning of December, the revised form of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan will be approved at the meeting of European finance ministers, and then a new implementation decision will be issued by the Council of the European Union.



    Israel — The Romanian senators and deputies watched on Tuesday, during a joint plenary session, a film made available by the Israeli armed forces regarding the attacks of the Hamas group on October 7. The images were unedited and several parliamentarians left the room, declaring themselves shocked by the atrocities committed against the civilian population in Israel. At the end of the meeting, which was secret, without access for the media, the Israeli ambassador in Bucharest, Reuven Azar, declared that his country had the duty to eradicate all the military capabilities of the Hamas group and to ensure that this terrorist organization will no longer represent a future threat. He once again thanked the Romanian Parliament, which was the first in the world to unanimously adopt a resolution condemning Hamas and reiterating support for Israels right to defend itself.



    Tour — Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, is on an official visit to Senegal, the last stage of his African tour. He visited, in Dakar, the Senegalese Association for the Protection of Children with Mental Deficiencies, which will receive support from Romania. On Wednesday, President Iohannis will go to the island of Gorée, a UNESCO heritage site and former outpost of the slave trade, where he will meet with local officials. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, the presidents official talks with his counterpart, Macky Sall, will take place on Thursday, when a series of official documents will be signed. Also on Thursday, Iohannis will participate in the inauguration of the United Nations House in Senegal and in the opening of an exhibition of traditional masks. He will also have a meeting with former students from Senegal who studied in Romania. The previous stages of the ten-day African tour of the Romanian presidential couple were Kenya, Tanzania and Cape Verde.



    Gaudeamus – The Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organized by Radio Romania, begins in Bucharest on Wednesday. The event marks 95 years since Radio Romania’s first broadcast, 30 editions of the Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest and over 140 national and local editions. Some 200 participants will organize more than 500 events as part of this years fair, which will come to an end on November 26. (LS, AMP)

  • November 20, 2023

    November 20, 2023

    Tour – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is paying a state visit to the Republic of Cape Verde today, where he is meeting with his counterpart Jose Maria Neves, the Prime Minister Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva and other officials. Last Tuesday the Romanian president started a tour in Africa that included Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar (autonomous territory belonging to Tanzania). The last stage of the tour is the official visit to Senegal.



    Visit – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, is visiting Paris today, where she is having talks with the head of the French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna. High on the agenda of talks are the bilateral cooperation in the field of Foreign Affairs and Defense, the current international crises, especially the situation in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Paris, the French FM, Catherine Colonna, will emphasize, again, Frances long-term commitment as the framework nation of the NATO Multinational Command in Romania to strengthen the defense on the Eastern Flank of the Alliance. The meeting between the two ministers represents a further opportunity to reaffirm the common decision for a lasting support given to Ukraine in all fields, hailing the efforts made by Romania for the functioning of the corridors for the export of Ukrainian cereals. The discussions also focus on the prospects of expanding the EU with the countries of the Western Balkans, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.



    Exhibition – The exhibition “Dacia – the last frontier of the Roman world” opens in Rome today. It can be visited until the end of April. Hundreds of archaeological objects from the territory of Romania, dating back over a thousand years, are on display. The artefacts come from 47 museums in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Italy, which provide a strong testimony of the Roman civilization. According to Ambassador Gabriela Dancău, the exhibition brings together archeology and technology, allowing access to a universe where the ancestors of the Getae-Dacians evolved. The opening of the exhibition, located in the National Museum Terme di Diocleziano in Rome, is being attended by the ministers of culture from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Italy – Raluca Turcan, Sergiu Prodan, and Gennaro Sangiuliano, respectively.



    Cernavoda – Unit 1 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant has been resynchronized to the national energy system, and today it will operate at nominal power, the Energy Ministry informs. The unit was automatically disconnected from the national electricity distribution network on Saturday night due to winds that blew at over 100 kilometers per hour. In Constanţa county, in the south-east of Romania, the storm over the weekend felled 240 trees, tore off 50 roofs and damaged 60 cars. At the same time, approximately 40,000 consumers from 80 localities in the Dobrogea region were left without electricity. The energy supplier reported that, in the meantime, power has been restored for almost 93% of those affected.



    Pensions – In Romania, the draft public pension system law passed the Senate and reaches, today, the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body. The government has calculated that it needs 5 billion Euros to increase pensioners incomes and it is still not clear where this money will come from. According to the draft law, two increases are scheduled for in 2024: as of January 1,a rise by 13.8% for all the approximately five million pensioners, and in September, a new increase, based on a new calculation formula, which takes into account the seniority, the contribution or the value of the correction index, targeting, this time approximately three million pensioners. Last week, in the Senate, the MPs of the ruling coalition, PSD and PNL, voted in favor of the draft pension law, which, they said, brings balance to the system. The opposition parties Save Romania Union – USR and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians – AUR abstained from voting. During the debates, the opposition senators criticized those in power for the lack of data regarding the resources and the budgetary impact regarding this draft law.



    Budget — The drafting of the budget bill for 2024 by the Government is going to be finalized this week. The PSD-PNL coalition has already agreed that, along with funding investments, priority will be attached to education and healthcare, but it seems that even these ministries will not receive as much money as they would like, given the constraints related to the budget deficit. And, meanwhile, there are more and more requests for money at the end of this year from the town halls as well as from the Transport Ministry. The main resource for supporting the future budget will be the fight against tax evasion. The social democratic PM Marcel Ciolacu said that, by eliminating tax evasion, the necessary funds can be obtained for pension increases, education and healthcare.



    Football – Qualified, mathematically, for the Euro 2024 from Germany, the Romanian national football team meets Switzerland, on Tuesday evening, in the last match of the Qualifying Group I. Undefeated, Romania occupies the first position, with 19 points, and can be the winner of the group if it does not lose the match with Switzerland, the team qualified for the 2024 European Championship. The Romanian footballers qualified after a 2-1 victory against Israel on Saturday. It will be the 6thparticipation of the national team in a final continental tournament, after those in 1984, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2016.



    Handball – The finalist of Romania’s Women’s Handball Cup, CSM Târgu Jiu (south) qualified, for the first time, in the groups of the EHF European League competition, after defeating the Swedish team Onnereds HK, with the score of 26-23, on Sunday, at home, in the second leg of the third preliminary round. HC Dunărea Brăila (south-east) also qualified on Sunday after defeating the German team BV Borussia 09 Dortmund, with the score of 27-22, at home. Another Romanian team that will play in the EHF European League groups is CS Gloria 2018 Bistriţa-Năsăud (north). In the Champions League groups, Romania is represented by the Bucharest teams CSM and Rapid. (LS)