Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romania-US Strategic Partnership

  • Annual meeting of Romanian diplomacy

    Annual meeting of Romanian diplomacy

     

    Close to the end of his 10-year presidential mandate, Klaus Iohannis attended his last meeting with the heads of diplomatic and consular missions and directors of Romanian Cultural Institute on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy. According to the head of state, Romania in the last decade has become a reliable, committed and respected actor at regional, European and international levels, a genuine provider of stability and security. The president told Romanian diplomats that the major foreign policy objectives remain the consolidation of Romania’s role and influence in the European Union and NATO, the deepening of the strategic partnership with the United States and the diversification of bilateral dialogue with partners from all continents. The president said he remains a strong supporter of the European Union enlargement process and emphasized that Romania remains committed to supporting the European path of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Klaus Iohannis recalled that Bucharest strongly supported the historic decision regarding the opening of negotiations for accession to the European Union with the two neighboring states, adopted at the meeting of the European Council on December 14-15 last year. Regarding Ukraine, from the first day of the war, Romania has shown its full solidarity and took extensive multidimensional measures to support this country, president Iohannis emphasized. In terms of security and defense, as a member state of NATO, Romania plays a constructive role and serves as a balancing factor, being a provider of security and stability, the president further argued. Romania currently benefits from the highest degree of defense and protection in its entire history, Klaus Iohannis also believes.

     

     

    Regarding the Strategic Partnership with the United States, as an essential pillar of Romania’s foreign policy, it has become more robust during this period and acquired more substance, Klaus Iohannis says. On the other hand, the head of state mentioned that, during the ten years of his mandate, special attention was paid to strengthening partnerships and bilateral strategic relations with states with which Romania shares common values ​​and interests, such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy or Poland.

     

     

    A recurring topic and an objective yet to fulfill, Schengen accession was also discussed this year at the meeting of Romanian diplomats. Romania’s accession to the Schengen area with air and maritime borders was an important, although temporary success, while lifting controls at land borders also remains a key objective, the president said. “I am confident that we will succeed in achieving this collective effort to the benefit not only of Romanian citizens, but of a more prosperous Union, free of artificial obstacles”, the head of state pointed out. Another major foreign policy objective is the country’s accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The president urged diplomats to step up inter-institutional effort for the successful completion of this process in the shortest time possible. (VP)

  • July 12, 2022 UPDATE

    July 12, 2022 UPDATE

    GAS – Romania will have
    enough natural gas stored to cover domestic demand in the next cold season, Romania’s
    Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă says. On Tuesday, the
    Romanian Prime Minister said a new record has been attained: Romania’s gas storage capacity from domestic production
    reached 70%. Romania is ahead of the European schedule in terms of storing gas,
    having already exceeded the target set for August 1. According to the Romanian official,
    if the current pace is maintained, Romania will meet the objective set at
    European level, namely to store natural gas at least at 80% capacity ahead of
    the set deadline, November 1.




    INFLATION – The year-on-year
    inflation rate reached 15.1% in June, as against 14.5% in May, the National
    Statistics Institute announced on Tuesday. According to the institution,
    non-foodstuff prices went up nearly 18%, food prices rose by roughly 15% and
    the price of services also increased by some 8%. The National Bank of Romania
    adjusted its inflation forecast to 12.5% for the end of this year and to 6.7%
    for the end of 2023.




    REFUGEES – Over the past 24
    hours around 226,800 people have crossed the border in and out of Romania, the
    Romanian Border Police Inspectorate announced. Of these, over 22,000 are
    Ukrainian nationals who came into Romania via various checkpoints. Since the
    start of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, more than 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens
    have crossed the border into Romania.




    COVID-19 – Starting Tuesday,
    COVID-19 updates will be released on a daily basis in Romania rather than
    weekly, after a steep rise in the number of cases, accounting for a doubling of
    new infection numbers every 7 days. On Tuesday the authorities announced over
    4,000 people tested positive in 24 hours, out of over 21,000 tests conducted.
    Nine COVID-related deaths were also reported, all of them in patients suffering
    from prior conditions. The number of hospitalized COVID patients is 1,361, with
    90 patients in intensive care. According to experts, the new Omicron
    sub-variant that causes the current infection wave around the world, and which
    has also been identified in Romania, affects the protection provided both by
    the vaccine and by natural immunization, but it generally seems to cause milder
    forms of the disease. The health minister Alexandru Rafila announced that
    prevention measures remain in place, especially wearing face masks and physical
    distancing. COVID-19 vaccines are still recommended by the authorities,
    particularly to vulnerable categories.




    MOLDOVA – Moldova’s
    president, Maia Sandu, on Tuesday called on the chief of the European Public
    Prosecutor’s office (EPPO), Laura Codruța Kovesi, to help Moldovan prosecutors
    investigate the frauds committed by wanted oligarchs. The two officials
    discussed issues such as the fight against corruption, eliminating abusive
    practices in the management of public funds and properties, as well as
    providing efficient tools to judicial institutions to help them combat graft.
    The Republic of Moldova is committed to joinining the EU, and a functioning
    judiciary and combating corruption remain key prerequisites in this process,
    president Sandu pointed out. The head of the EPPO is paying an official visit
    to Moldova until July 14.




    PARTNERSHIP – Romania has no
    better friend than the US, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on
    the celebration of 25 years since the launch of the Strategic Partnership
    between Washington and Bucharest. In turn, former US ambassadors to Bucharest
    state in a letter that the strategic partnership with Romania has proved to be
    one of the best investments in Europe for the US. They also say that Romania
    plays a decisive part in the defense and strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank
    and in consolidating stability and security at the Black Sea.




    HUNGARY – Romania wants to
    build a real strategic partnership with Hungary, Romania’s Foreign minister,
    Bogdan Aurescu, said on Tuesday at the end of his meeting with his Hungarian
    counterpart, Péter Szijjártó. Hungary and Romania are also examining an
    increase in the transport capacity for the cross-border gas interconnector, up
    to 3 billion cubic meters per year. Minister Aurescu also insisted on the need
    to come up with alternative energy resources, with a focus on renewable energy
    and nuclear energy. In turn, Minister Szijjártó recalled the high level of
    two-way trade, which stood at 11 billion EUR last year, as well as the good neighborly
    relations between the two countries. (AMP & VP)







  • February 1, 2018

    February 1, 2018

    Parliament — The Romanian senators and deputies on Thursday started a new parliamentary session. The Social Democratic Party, the main party in the governing coalition, intends to adopt the law on the sovereign fund for development and investments, the administrative code and the pensions law, while its partners from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats focus on the country’s economic development. The rightwing opposition announced that in the current parliamentary session they intend to block all the initiatives of the ruling coalition meant to change the justice laws.



    Government priority — One of the priorities of the government is the development and extension of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US, in more domains including the protection and promotion of human rights and fighting human trafficking, said the PM Viorica Dancila in a message she conveyed at a debate on human trafficking organized by the US Embassy to Bucharest. The interior minister Carmen Dan said that Romania is participating in all the efforts made by such organizations as EUROPOL, INTERPOL, EUROJUST, FRONTEX and SELEC in fighting cross-border crime and curbing the negative effects of human and children trafficking, the fight against human trafficking being one of the Interior Ministry’s priorities. The meeting gathered officials of the Magistracy and of the authorities specialized in fighting human trafficking from the US, Romania and the Republic of Moldova.



    Bilateral talks — The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu is holding talks today in Bucharest with his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz about the two countries’ strategic partnership, the objectives of the group made up of Romania, Poland and Turkey as well as about issues related to the developments in the EU. Romania and Poland have been strategic partners since October 7, 2009 when they signed a joint declaration on their strategic partnership. At present, this partnership is being applied through a plan of common actions running for the period 2016-2020. As regards European issues, the two countries militate for maintaining the allocation of substantial funds for the Common Agricultural Policy. In terms of bilateral trade exchanges, Poland ranks 9th among the countries to which Romania targeted most of its exports in 2017. In Romania, there are more than one thousand Polish companies registered.



    Chisinau — The Moldovan Foreign Ministry officials condemn the military drills of the Russian troops deployed in the separatist region of Transdniester. In a press release, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry officials labeled these actions as provocative. Chisinau’s concerns were raised by the fact that the drills undertaken by the operative group of Russian troops also include forces of the separatist regime in Tiraspol. According to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, these military drills represent a direct and brutal threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the exercises are aimed, among other things, at counteracting terrorism and at training the soldiers. The Russian Federation pledged to withdraw its troops and military equipment from the Moldovan territory at the summit in Istanbul held in 1999. So far Russia has only pulled out its heavy artillery.



    Protests — Clerks of the Romanian courts and prosecutor’s offices on Thursday protested against the drop in salaries of the people holding executive and management positions whose seniority exceeds 15 years. According to the president of the Court Clerks Association in Romania, Denisa Dindareanu, the clerks started a work-to-rule protest, which does not stop the activity of courts and prosecutor’s offices. However, she said that a spontaneous protest was likely to occur in the future that would stop of the activity of these institutions. Denisa Dindareanu said that protests were caused by the bad salary grid in force and by the government’s decision to transfer the responsibility of paying social security contributions from employers to employees. The work-to-rule protest has been organized in all Romanian courts and prosecutor’s offices, the protest being attended also by clerks that are not affected by these measures. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)