News review of the day – March 13th

NATO’s Standing Maritime Group-2 to be stationed in Constanta harbor this week-end

NATO’s Standing Maritime Group-2 is going to be stationed in Constanta Harbor starting today until March 15th. The maritime group is one of the four multinational NATO groups comprising four frigates, one cruiser and one auxiliary ship. The Romanian Navy is represented in this group by the „Queen Mary” frigate which has a helicopter on board.  The missions of the Standing Maritime Group-2 are going to continue at sea starting Monday, March 16th in a common exercisewith the „Mărăşeşti” frigate, two corvettes, two missile carriers as well as Romanian military aircraft.The actions have been planned since 2014 for interoperability purposes between members of the Alliance.

President Klaus Iohannis on the second day of his visit to Warsaw

President Klaus Iohannis has continued his visit to Poland today with a meeting with Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. The talks have approached regional co-operation between the two countries but also bilateral relationship within the Strategic Partnership. Yesterday, the Romanian head of state had talks with his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski at the end of which the two presidents signed a common declaration.

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan on his first visit to Romania

Prime Minister Victor Ponta has had talks today at Victoria Palace with the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan who is officially visiting Romania for the first time. The chief of the Executive has presented the situation of European funds absorption in agriculture which states that 90 percent of the money has already been used. According to a press release by he Government, Victor Ponta has asked for commissioner’s Hogan support in the adoption of the National Program for Rural Development in Brussels.

Fiscal transparency in Romania is on a positive trend, according to a report by the IMF

Romania has registered good progress in many fields in as far standards set by the Fiscal Transparency Code, according to an assessment report published by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF has pointed out that fiscal reports does not include the state-owned company sector which accounts for approximately 10 percent of the country’s GDP. On the other hand, Romania’s budgetary process has seen some significant improvement over the last few years given that the medium-term budgetary framework covers almost 97 percent of the Government expenses. Altogether, 15 out of the 36 criteria used for assessing fiscal transparency in Romania proved to have been met well and very well; another 15 criteria are met at a minimal level whereas other 6 have received recommendations to be complied with at least at a minimal level.

Romanian Society of Pneumology calls for quicker deploy of sleep screening strategies for certain professionals

World Sleep Day is celebrated every year on the first Friday after the March equinox. In 2015, on Friday 13th, the Romanian Society of Pneumology has launched an appeal regarding quicker deploy of European legislation on sleep screening of those professionals whose activity could represent a risk for citizens’ safety. The imposed deadline is the end of 2015.
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a prevalent chronic sleep-related disease inducing among other consequences an increased risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVAs). It affects about 2 to 4 % of the adult
population.The European legislation’s provisions now require special sleepiness tests especially for professional drivers who want to renew their licences, but they also target pilots, air traffic controllers or engine drivers.

Romanian Tourism Fair – Spring Edition 2015 at ROMEXPO Exhibition Centre

Romanian Tourism Fair (TTR) – Spring Edition 2015 opened yesterday at ROMEXPO Exhibition Centre in Bucharest and it is expecting more than 30,000 visitors this week-end. 280 companies from Romania and abroad (one third being foreign) are present at the 33rd edition with the most comprehensive offer so far, according to organizers. 15 countries are offering classical 7-day trips but also some adventure packages in the Himalayas, the Alps or the Andes Cordillera. The tourism fair is open until Sunday, inclusive, at the same time and premises with a Nautical and Leisure Fair, Radio Romania reported.

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