Radio România Internațional

Tag: upgrade

  • October 10, 2022

    October 10, 2022

    DEFICIT In the first 8 months of the year Romania’s trade balance
    deficit deepened by nearly EUR 7.4 billion, to EUR 22 billion. According to data
    made public by the National Statistics Institute on Monday, exports went up
    25%, to EUR 60.3 billion, and imports rose by 31%, to roughly EUR 83 billion.
    Vehicles and transport equipment, as well as other manufactured products,
    accounted for a large part of Romania’s foreign trade. Over 70% of the total
    imports and exports involved the EU market.


    PILGRIMAGE
    The north-eastern Romanian city of Iaşi is hosting these days a traditional
    pilgrimage devoted to St. Paraskeva, commemorated on the 14 October and viewed
    as the patron saint of Moldavia. Thousands of Orthodox believers from around
    the country and from abroad have already come to pray at St. Paraskeva’s relics,
    hosted by the Metropolitan Cathedral. The Iași pilgrimage is the largest
    Orthodox pilgrimage in the country, with around 300,000 people expected to
    attend this year.


    REFUGEES Romania is better prepared to
    receive Ukrainian refugees, although there is no indication that their number
    may increase, the state secretary with the interior ministry Raed Arafat
    said in Suceava, north-eastern Romania. On Sunday the Romanian official
    travelled to the Suceava hub for a donation ceremony also attended by the
    French ambassador to Bucharest, Laurence Auer, and the Ukrainian ambassador in
    Romania, Ihor Prokopchuk. Fifteen fire engines and ambulances were brought to
    the hub by 40 members of the French civil protection agency, and further
    materials will reach Suceava in a few days. The largest French aid batch for
    Ukraine, consisting in over 1 tonne of pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs and
    intervention vehicles, has reached the Black Sea port of Constanţa Sud-Agigea.


    UKRAINE
    Several blasts were reported this
    morning in the Ukrainian capital city and in Lviv, Ternopil and Dnipro. The
    Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced that Romanian diplomatic
    staff in Kyiv is safe, although a missile hit 850m from the Romanian embassy
    office. The Romanian official firmly condemns Russian missile strikes on
    civilian targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities as a blatant violation of
    international human rights law. Meanwhile, Russia’s Security Council convenes today at president
    Vladimir Putin’s request, after Saturday’s
    partial destruction of the Kerch bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. According
    to Putin, this was a terrorist act committed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian
    authorities neither confirmed nor denied their involvement in the incident. In
    Washington, the White House declined comments on the topic and mentioned it
    would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. Also today, the UN is holding an
    emergency session to discuss Russia’s recent annexation of 4 other Ukrainian
    provinces. Radio Romania’s correspondent in the US mentions that the UN General
    Assembly condemned the annexation of Crimea in 2014.


    AIRPORT As of today, the Bucharest Otopeni Airport is upgrading its baggage
    handling systems at the Departures terminal, the Bucharest National Airport
    Company has announced. Until next August, the number of check-in counters will
    be significantly reduced, and waiting time will be longer. The current baggage
    handling system is more than 20 years old, and its replacement requires an over
    EUR 20 million investment. After the works, the processing capacity will be 40%
    higher, and 12 counters for passengers to drop off their own baggage without
    resorting to a check-in counter will also be available, the Company announced.


    VETERINARY EU experts are assessing these days the veterinary services
    at the border check points Stamora Moraviţa, in Timiş County, on the border
    with Serbia, and at the Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport, the National Veterinary
    and Food Safety Agency announced. The assessment comes in the context of
    Romania’s prospective Schengen area accession. The Czech presidency of the EU
    Council announced last week that in the December summit it will seek a
    unanimous decision on Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the passport-free
    travel area.



    SPORTS The Romanian team CSM Bucharest defeated
    the Dutch side Odense Handbold, 31-27 (16-13), on Sunday, away from home, in
    Group A of the women’s handball Champions’ League. Undefeated in 4 matches, the
    Romanian team is to play next at home on 16 October, against DHK Banik Most. In
    turn, CS Rapid Bucharest won 34-32 (19-14) against the Danish team Team
    Esbjerg, in a home game on Sunday in Group B of the same competition. This was
    the 3rd win for the Romanian champions in the competition. Rapid will
    play next against Buducnost Podgorica, away from home, on 15 October. (AMP)

  • December 29, 2019

    December 29, 2019

    VISIT PM Ludovic Orban will be on a working visit to EU and NATO institutions in Brussels between January 7th and 9th, the Government announced today. The Romanian PM will have meetings with the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and with the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. The agenda also includes talks with the president of the European Council Charles Michel and with the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli.




    PENSIONS The Romanian public pension system is in imminent danger, given that the number of employed contributors has dropped significantly, and people need to be encouraged to save money in privately-managed pension funds, which ensure more safety, transparency and traceability, the Labour Minister Violeta Alexandru said in an interview to AGERPRES news agency. She also warned that there is a trend across Europe to increase the retirement age, but she did not suggest that the Government plans to take any measures in this respect in the current term in office. The Labour Minister also expressed concern with the budgetary impact of the planned 40% pension raise as of September 2020, as decided by the previous, Social Democratic cabinet dismissed in October, but said that as long as she is the labour minister the law will be complied with.




    CUSTOMS The customs offices on the Romanian – Moldovan border will be revamped and upgraded as part of a EU-funded project. Included in the project are the check points in Albiţa, Sculeni and Giurgiuleşti, which are seen as strategic points for the Unions security policy. The programme has a 36-month deadline for implementation, a total budget of 10 million euros, and is designed to enhance institutional and operational efficiency in customs offices by modernising the infrastructure and streamlining the transit of goods and persons. A number of 347 customs workers will also be trained to use special equipment to fight cross-border organised crime.




    FINANCIAL Most analysts in CFA Romania Association expect the national currency to depreciate in the next 12 months, to 4.8663 leu for the euro, with an average inflation rate of 3.52%, according to data in the Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator for November. CFA Romania is an organisation of chartered financial analysts certified by the CFA Institute (USA). At present CFA Romania has over 240 members. The Macroeconomic Confidence Indicator was launched by CFA Romania in May 2011 and is designed to measure the financial analysts expectations regarding Romanias economy for the coming 12 months.




    UKRAINE The Ukrainian governmental forces and the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have initiated a prisoner exchange, thanks to which all people taken captive in the conflict 5 years ago should be able to return home, Russian news agencies report. The prisoner exchange agreement was reached in Paris this month by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraines president Volodimir Zelenskiy, in the first Ukraine peace summit since 2016. The French-German brokered deal includes a number of measures such as consolidation of the cease-fire, massive prisoner swaps by the end of December, new troop pull-outs from the 3 zones by the end of March 2020. The conflict between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists—backed by Moscow, according to the West and to Kiev—dates back to 2014 and has left behind over 13,000 dead and nearly 1.5 million displaced. The peace agreements signed in Minsk in 2015 allowed for a substantial decrease in violence. This September Moscow and Kiev also swapped an important number of prisoners.




    HANDBALL Romanias mens handball team is playing today against North Macedonia in the Carpati Trophy final. In their first match with French top league Saint Raphaels coach Rareş Fortuneanu as a manager, Romania defeated Netherlands on Saturday, 27-25. In the first match of the competition, North Macedonia outplayed Algeria 25-24. Netherlands and Algeria will face each other for the 3rd place. The games are part of the preparations for the first stage of the 2021 Egypt World Championships qualifiers, in which 32 teams are taking part. Next month, in the preliminary tournament in Italy, Romania will play against the host country, Georgia and Kosovo.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • August 28, 2018 UPDATE

    August 28, 2018 UPDATE

    JUDICIARY – The US government does not comment on the opinions or conclusions of private US citizens, the spokesperson of the US embassy in Bucharest, Donald Carroll said today. In a comment to Agerpress news agency, he emphasised that until recently, Romania had shown remarkable progress in combating corruption and building an efficient rule of law. This reaction comes after Rudolph Giuliani, a former district attorney and mayor of New York and currently part of Donald Trump’s legal team, sent a letter to president Klaus Iohannis and other Romanian officials recommending the assessment of the protocols between the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Romanian Intelligence Service and calling for an end to what he described as pressure on the judges. The General Prosecutor’s Office said that in December 2016, it signed two perfectly legal collaboration protocols with the Romanian Intelligence Service which were in place for three months. One of them was of a public nature and was concerned with the conditions to access technical systems of the National Centre for the Interception of Communications, while a second, secret, protocol, dealt with cooperation for crimes against national security, namely terrorism and crimes committed by military staff of the Romanian Intelligence Service. Against the backdrop of these debates, the justice minister Tudorel Toader recently announced he would begin an evaluation of the managerial activity of the prosecutor general, Augustin Lazar. On Tuesday, Toader added that the decision to assess the work of the prosecutor general did not rely exclusively on recent circumstances, but added that protocols between judicial institutions and intelligence services are “unnatural in a country governed by the law.



    SWINE FEVER – The largest pig farm in Romania and the second largest in Europe, located in Braila County, south-eastern Romania, Tuesday initiated the slaughtering of all its 140,000 animals, because of the African swine fever virus. A similar operation is under way in another farm in the same county, where some 35,000 animals are being killed. The Agriculture Minister Petrea Daea said on Tuesday that all the farmers who have incurred damages because of the swine fever will receive compensations, after the forthcoming budget adjustment. He added that Romania will receive funding from the European Commission to fight the epidemics. Daea also explained that he requested support from experts from other European countries having faced this situation. One-quarter of Romanias counties are affected by the African swine fever epidemic, with over 700 hotbeds identified by authorities in the south-east and north-west of the country. The authorities estimate that around 300,000 animals will be killed.



    AMBASSADOR – Brexit will not have a negative impact on Londons relations with Bucharest or on the life of the Romanians who work in the UK, said the new British Ambassador to Bucharest, Andrew Noble. In his first press conference, he said Britain and Romania are working on a new strategic partnership, able to respond to the current concerns. The British official returned to Romania after nearly 30 years. According to Radio Romania Current Affairs, between 1983 and 1986 Andrew Noble worked as a secretary in the British Embassy in Bucharest.



    EMERGENCY NUMBER – Romanias National System for the 112 Single Emergency Number will be modernised using non-reimbursable European funds. The Romanian Minister for European Funds Rovana Plumb and the head of the Special Telecommunications Service Ionel-Sorinel Vasilca Tuesday signed a financing contract for the amount of 47.6 million euros. The project will be implemented in 36 months and consists in the upgrading of hardware and software components to ensure a quicker response of emergency agencies to citizens calls. Special telecoms experts will improve the precision of call tracing, will ease the access of people with disabilities, and the waiting time will be reduced by 5 seconds, to 54 seconds. Rovana Plumb said that during its 13 years of operation, the 112 emergency telephone number received more than 64 million calls.



    MOLDOVA – The Romanian Foreign Ministry is monitoring with close attention and concern the situation at Romanias border with the Republic of Moldova and, in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation that defines the relationship between the two countries, it requested explanations as to why some Romanian citizens were denied access to the country. A news release issued by the Foreign Ministry mentions that the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Bucharest was invited for additional clarifications. Also, the Romanian Embassy to Chisinau took measures to ensure that the rights of Romanian citizens are respected, as is normal for a country associated to the EU and for a strategic partner of Romania. The Foreign Ministry adds that the Moldovan border police Monday sent back from Albita checkpoint a group of Romanians taking part in the Union March, on grounds that they have disturbed public order in the border area.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)