BUSINESS As part of his official visit to Asia, the Romanian Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Ilan Laufer, has paid a three-days visit to Japan where he’s held talks with officials from Japan’s institutions, representatives of the banking sector and of the Japanese business environment. The Romania-Japan Business Bridge seminar, staged at the Romanian embassy in Tokyo, has offered the possibility of reviewing the possibilities of enlarging the bilateral economic relations for the two countries. The event has been attended by 50 Japanese companies, major players in the Japanese and world economy that have voiced interest in getting access and expanding their business to the Romanian market.
MESSAGE Romanian president Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message of appreciation to the Romanians in the United States whom he met on Thursday. He told the Romanians in Philadelphia that the strategic partnership between Romania and the USA got a new dimension after the visit he had paid to Washington this year. Before the meeting with the Romanians, Iohannis visited the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall in Philadelphia where he saw the Declaration of the Mid-European Union also signed by Romania back in 1918.
ENESCU The prestigious classical music festival George Enescu continues in Romania with the performances of the Bacau Philharmonic orchestra and Trio Contraste, which will be performing Romanian pieces. Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais will continue the series of ‘Chamber Concerts and Recitals’. Also today the Santa Cecilia Academy Choir and Orchestra will be giving the second concert during the Enescu Festival, while student orchestras from Bucharest and all over the country will be giving performances in the Festival’s Square. Le Concert des nations ensemble led by Jordi Savall will be performing in the Midnight Concert at the Romanian Athenaeum. Also high on the Festival’s agenda are the performances in Sibiu, central Romania, given by violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Vag Papian. Over three thousand of the world’s most famous artists are going to perform in Bucharest and other cities across Romania by September 24th. Inaugurated in 1958 and cancelled by the communists in 1971, the famous Enescu Festival was resumed after the demise of the communist regime in Romania and it is being held every other year.
ANTI-GRAFT Romanian deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh, who is also Minister of Regional Development, on Friday said that she is suspect in a corruption file. She has been summoned by the Romanian Anticorruption Agency, where she goes accompanied by a lawyer. Shhaideh has so far been heard in two pending cases.
OFFERS Universities, high-schools and foreign languages centers from all over the world are presenting their educational offers in Romania, during the 17th edition of World Education Fair. The event’s venues are the city of Timisoara, in western Romania, on September 22nd, Bucharest over September 23rd and 24th, Iasi and Galati over September 25th and 27th and Constanta on September 28th. According to the organizers, over 10 thousand young Romanians have been provided counseling during this fair in the past 9 years.
FOOTBALL The Executive Committee of the Romanian Football Federation is today voting on a proposal made by its president Razvan Burleanu on the nomination of coach Cosmin Contra for the position of selector of the country’s national eleven. We recall that Contra, 41, has won 73 caps for the national side and played for famous football clubs like AC Milan and Atletico Madrid. He has also coached various football clubs in Romania, Spain and China. Contra has reached an agreement with the federation for taking over this vacant position left by German coach Cristoph Daum, the first foreign selctor in the history of our national squad. Under his guidance, Romania’s team has failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia next year. Romania still has two games in hand against Kazahstan on October 5th and in Denmark three days later.
