Radio România Internațional

Tag: diplomatic relations

  • April 24, 2016

    April 24, 2016

    LEGISLATION – The Romanian Labour Ministry will initiate tomorrow talks with its social partners on a new emergency order aimed at doing away with inequities in public sector salaries. The new legislation is scheduled to be finalised within three weeks. In an interview to Radio Romania, the Finance Minister Anca Dragu said the Government intended to increase the lower salaries in the public administration, because the budget resources were limited. She also explained that according to data available to the Finance Ministry, in the first months of the year revenues to the state budget were higher than estimated.



    DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the celebration, on April 24, of 85 years since diplomatic relations were established between Romania and Argentina. According to a news release, these relations are expressed in a constant political dialogue, including as members of international organisations, as well as in mutual economic and trade interests. Grassroots contacts, the old Romanian community in Argentina and the Latin origin of the two languages are also key elements that define bilateral relations. The first official contacts between Romania and Argentina were reported in 1880. Diplomatic relations were established on April 24, 1931, at legation level, and on March 29, 1964, the diplomatic offices were upgraded to embassy.



    NATO – The deputy Secretary General of NATO, Alexander Vershbow, will be received on Monday by President Klaus Iohannis, and will also have a meeting with the Romanian Defence Minister, Mihnea Motoc. According to the Defence Ministry, the NATO official is in Romania between April 24 and 26 to take part in a meeting of of political leaders in the defence ministries of NATO member states. Meanwhile, the US President, Barack Obama, who is to have a meeting tomorrow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will call on Germany to get more involved in the defence of eastern NATO member countries. German governmental sources quoted by Der Spiegel magazine said additional NATO troops might be deployed to Romania, Poland and the Baltic States. An official decision on increasing the NATO military presence in the east is to be made at the Alliance Summit due in Warsaw. The Pentagon has already announced in late March that the US will send more troops to Eastern Europe, Romania included, as of 2017, as part of the measures to guarantee security against the backdrop of Russias recent actions.



    PALM SUNDAY – Romanian Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians celebrate Palm Sunday today, which is a commemoration of Jesus Christs entry in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The previous day, thousands of believers and hundreds of priests took part in processions, in the country and abroad, in a symbolic reconstruction of Christs journey to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday opens the last week of Lent, also known as Passion Week, which commemorates the most dramatic days in the life of Jesus Christ. On Palm Sunday, nearly 1.4 million Romanians named after flower names celebrate their name day.



    FESTIVALS – The feature film “Soy Nero, directed by the Iranian Rafi Pitts, last night won the Grand Prize of the 12th Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF). “Soy Nero tells the story of a Mexican who gets deported and returns to the US illegally in search of his own identity. The award for the best director went to Mia Hansen-Love (France) for “L’avenir. “Death in Sarajevo by Danis Tranovic won the award for best script. Meanwhile, in the southern Romanian city of Craiova, the 10th Shakespeare International Theatre Festival came to an end last night. This latest edition commemorated 400 years since the death of the great British playwright.




    TENNIS – The Romanians Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău are playing today, in the doubles final of the BRD Năstase – Ţiriac Trophy in Bucharest, with 460,000 Euros in prize money, against Chris Guccione (Australia) and Andre Sa (Brazil). Yesterday, in the semi-finals, the Romanians outplayed the Dutch Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop, 3-6, 6-2, 10-8. Meanwhile, the Romanian Andreea Mitu and Turkeys Ipek Soylu, are playing today in the doubles final of the Istanbul tournament, against Xenia Knoll (Switzerland)/Danka Kovinic (Montenegro).

  • January 4, 2016 UPDATE

    January 4, 2016 UPDATE

    COLD WEATHER – The wave of cold weather which is sweeping the region has hit Romania, where temperatures dropped to minus 16 degrees Celsius. Three people died from the cold and scores have been hospitalised with hypothermia. Bucharest authorities decided to start offering hot tea and hot soup to the homeless. Snow has disrupted road traffic in the south and south west of the country and rendered air traffic difficult. Speed restrictions have also been imposed in places and many trains have failed to arrive on time. Several ports on the Black Sea Coast have also been closed down.



    CURRENCY – Romanias national currency, the leu, will this year maintain its stabilization trend against the Euro, but it will slightly depreciate against the US dollar. The forecast was made by the Financial – Banking Analysts Association in Romania, according to which the national currency will be mostly influenced by external factors. The President of the Association, Radu Craciun, has said that, although Romanias perception at international level is very good, the leus exchange rates will very much depend on the dynamics of the volatile currency markets. On the other hand, he has warned that certain promises made in the run-up to the 2016 local and legislative elections might raise worries among the foreign investors, and this could impact the evolution of the exchange rate.



    MOLDOVA– The Prime Minister Designate of the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population), the technocrat Ion Sturza, could not ask for a vote of confidence in Parliament on Monday because of a lack of quorum. The Sturza cabinet had however stood slim chances to get Parliaments endorsement, because the Prime Minister Designate failed to secure the needed 51 votes in order to take office. We recall that on December 21, the President of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, designated Ion Sturza, a businessman and former Prime Minister in 1999, for the position of Prime Minister, in the absence of a parliamentary majority willing to assume responsibility for the new cabinet. If President Timofti nominates a new candidate for the position of Prime Minister, who fails again to get Parliaments endorsement, the Moldovan President will be forced to dissolve Parliament and to call snap elections. The former cabinet, led by Liberal Democrat Valeriu Strelet, was sacked on October 29, under a no-confidence motion filed by the pro-Moscow left and voted by the Democratic Party.



    SEVERED DIPLOMATIC TIES – The EU and the US have launched an appeal for calm after Saudi Arabia, a country with a majority Sunni population, severed diplomatic ties with Iran, a country with a predominantly Shia population. The EU calls on the two sides to show restraint and responsibility, and the US Department of State said diplomatic relations are instrumental in solving differences between the two sides. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran, after its embassy in Tehran was stormed by violent protesters, discontent with the execution by the Riyadh authorities of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Sheikh Al Nimr, a harsh critic of Saudi Arabias ruling Sunni dynasty, was accused of terrorism, conspiracy and breaking the oath of allegiance to the sovereign.



    REFUGEES– The Swedish authorities, overwhelmed by the huge inflow of migrants, on Monday instated new controls on the border with Denmark, France Presse reports. Everybody who crosses the Ostersund Bridge, which is the main gateway used by the refugees, must present an ID. The measure also applies to those who come on board ships departing from the Danish and German ports on the Baltic Sea. Sweden, where over 20% of the residents are of foreign origin, received over 160,000 refugees in 2015 alone. In turn, Denmark on Monday temporarily introduced controls on the border with Germany, to prevent the entrance of migrants without valid travel papers.


    (Translated and edited by Diana Vijeu)

  • 135 Years of Romanian-American Diplomacy

    135 Years of Romanian-American Diplomacy

    In 1877, at the end of several centuries of Ottoman domination, Romania was gaining its independence. Three years later, the young state established diplomatic relations with the USA. Historians say that the connections between the two countries, the North American giant and the small state in south-eastern Europe, became indestructible with the outbreak of World War 1, when they were allied as part of the Entente.



    After the war, which had brought the Romanians the completion of their nation state formation, thousands of Americans on the East Coast came out in the street to welcome Queen Marie of Romania, who made a diplomatic tour of the US. The Second World War, when Romania, threatened by Soviet expansionism, found itself forced to join the Axis, and the long Communist dictatorship that followed, never managed to alter the Romanians pro-American sentiment. They continue to view the US as the foremost bastion of freedom and democracy in the world.



    Last week, an opinion poll revealed that Romanians see the USA as their greatest friend and the ally that could best protect them, with Russia at the opposite pole, as the greatest threat to the security of Romania, Europe and the world. Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the US, Bucharest joined without hesitation the anti-terror coalition and deployed troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, together with their American colleagues.



    Admitted into NATO in 2004, tied to the US through a strategic bilateral partnership, the host of American military bases and of elements of the missile defence system, Romania is in turn seen by many experts as the most important ally of the US in the region.



    On Tuesday, December 1st, the US Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated the Romanian nation, on behalf of President Barack Obama. A news release issued by the State Department mentions the 135th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between the USA and Romania, tied by a friendship based on the shared commitment to democratic government and the rule of law. Promoting the prosperity of citizens through extensive trade relations and investments and the common NATO membership seen as a guarantee of a free, united and peaceful Europe, are other affinities mentioned by the American Secretary of State. The US is proud that American and Romanian troops have taken part, over the years, in common missions to safeguard freedom and justice in a world threatened by war and terrorism, Kerry also said.



    The House of Representatives in Washington in its turn adopted a resolution hailing the anniversary of 135 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations and underlining Romanias outstanding commitment within NATO and its key role as an ally of the USA.