Radio România Internațional

Tag: peace plan

  • Romania and European diplomacy

    Romania and European diplomacy

    With few exceptions, Russia’s war against Ukraine dominates the meetings of EU member states at the level of foreign ministers. Such was also the case of the Foreign Affairs Council that took place on Monday in Brussels. Romania’s Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, emphasized the need for swiftly providing military assistance to Ukraine, while at the same time adopting the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The Romanian Minister also expressed support for the introduction of a new regime of sanctions for Russia’s hybrid actions. She condemned the recent unacceptable challenges to some EU member states in the Baltic Sea region and expressed Romania’s solidarity in that regard. The Romanian official also highlighted Russia’s hybrid attacks on the Republic of Moldova, which generate vulnerabilities in the context of the electoral processes in this country.

     

     

    Luminiţa Odobescu emphasized the need to continue and strengthen support for Ukraine and condemned Russia’s intense and repeated attacks on its civilian and energy infrastructure. Bucharest has offered substantial support to Ukraine in the field of energy and is willing to continue doing so, Minister Odobescu said. The Romanian chief of diplomacy also reiterated our country’s support for the European integration efforts of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and the organization of the first Intergovernmental Conferences by the end of June. With regard to president Zelenskyy’s peace plan, Minister Odobescu emphasized the importance of coordination at European level and with global partners to ensure the success of the Conference slated in June in Switzerland.

     

     

    The Foreign Affairs Council also tackled developments in the Middle East, with informal exchanges between European ministers and counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States. The Romanian Foreign Minister hailed the role of regional states in maintaining regional stability, de-escalating security developments and helping broker peace, as well as facilitating the provision of urgent humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Luminiţa Odobescu emphasized the need to solve the crisis by continuing efforts to ensure the release of all hostages, secure a ceasefire, provide comprehensive humanitarian assistance and resume the political process leading to a lasting peace, based on the two-state solution, in coordination with the USA, Great Britain and regional partners. Minister Odobescu reasserted Romania’s constant commitment to improving the humanitarian situation and announced a new humanitarian assistance transport to Gaza via the humanitarian corridor in Cyprus. (VP)

  • October 28, 2023 UPDATE

    October 28, 2023 UPDATE

    ISRAEL
    Romania and other countries are
    making joint efforts to help the over 3,000 people in Gaza with dual
    citizenship, including Romanian nationals, to leave that region, PM Marcel
    Ciolacu said. He explained that the situation was not easy to handle, and added
    that 260 applications have been received from Romanian nationals who want to
    leave Gaza, but many Palestinians are trying to do the same. What matters is
    for the situation not to spiral out of control, he also said. The
    Israeli army Saturday announced it entered the north of
    Gaza Strip and expanded military operations in the Palestinian enclave, while
    stepping up attacks against Hamas. The
    army once again asked the locals still in the north of Gaza Strip to move
    immediately to the south, explaining that the north is currently a battlefield.
    According to Israeli army estimates, some 700,000 people have already left the
    area, and the UN says out of the almost 2.2 million people in Gaza Strip, around
    1.4 million have been relocated since the conflict began. In fresh talks with the Israeli defence minister, the Pentagon chief
    Lloyd Austin called
    for the protection of civilians during the operation. On Friday night, the UN
    General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. The
    resolution is not compulsory, but it has political weight. Israel and the US
    voted against, while Romania abstained.




    DIPLOMACY
    The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu Friday had a telephone
    conversation with the British foreign secretary James Cleverly, to discuss the
    security situation in Israel and Gaza Strip, focusing on the need to ensure
    close coordination in order to avoid regional spill-over. According to the
    Romanian foreign ministry, the 2 officials emphasised the importance of
    continued humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza and of the immediate and
    unconditional release of all hostages.The
    Romanian diplomacy chief also discussed with her Qatari counterpart, Sheikh
    Mohammed Al Thani, given that Qatar is a mediator in the Hamas hostage crisis.
    Odobescu appreciated Qatar’s diplomatic efforts to mitigate the humanitarian
    crisis, and spoke about the aid Romania has decided to send there.


    AMBASSADOR The Black Sea region plays an important
    role for NATO, and Romania is a very close partner for the USA, the US
    Ambassador to Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec reiterated. In an interview to Radio
    Romania, the US official said that Romania, which is located next to the
    conflict in Ukraine, has faced problems like the Ukrainian refugee crisis and
    the transport of grains via Romanian sea ports, and in this context the
    security and defence relations between the 2 countries have become even closer.
    We have tripled the number of US troops in Romania, so now we have over 3,000 American
    troops here and we are working with our Romanian partners with respect to
    defence and deterrence, to safeguard every piece of NATO territory, Kathleen
    Kavalec pointed out.


    POPULATION The population of Romania on July 1 was
    approx. 21.9 million, down 0.3% since the corresponding month of last year. Almost
    3 million of them are currently living abroad. Romania is also facing
    population ageing, with 125 elderly citizens for each 100 youth. The average
    age is 42.4 years, 0.3 years more than on July 1, 2022. The number of citizens
    in urban communities is nearly 3 million higher than the number of rural
    inhabitants, however urban population dropped by 0.8% over the past year while
    the rural population grew by 0.3%.


    UKRAINE Ukraine is seeking international support for its peace plan,
    in a 2-day meeting held as of today in Malta. As many as 50 countries are
    taking part, but Russia is not among them. According to AFP, this is the 3rd
    meeting of this kind, and organisers hope it would result in a joint
    declaration. The 10-point plan proposed by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr
    Zelenskyy includes, among other things, the pull out of Russian troops from the
    occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donbas, part of which is under
    separatist control since 2014, and Crimea, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.
    Last year, Moscow annexed 4 Ukrainian regions, partly occupied by its troops
    after the large-scale invasion of February 24.



    DST
    On Saturday night, Romania switches to winter time, setting clocks back one
    hour from 4 AM to 3 AM. Sunday will thus be 25-hour long. Daylight saving time,
    first suggested by the scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1784, is currently used
    in 70 countries. The concept has come under debate in recent years, with the EU
    asking member states to end seasonal clock changes and choose either winter
    time or summer time, but a decision in this respect is yet to be made. (AMP)