Thursday, September 29 2022

Doreen Bogdan-Martin elected as head of UN’s telecommunication agency

Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected to head the UN’s telecommunications agency, ending a race overshadowed by politics in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Envoys from 193 Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva made their choice over Russian rival Rashid Ismailov at their latest meeting in Romania’s capital Bucharest on Thursday. Ms. Bogdan-Martin is expected to start her four-year term as ITU secretary general on January 1. Doreen Bogdan-Martin began her career as a telecom expert with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the US Department of Commerce in 1989. Moscow supported Ismailov, a former deputy minister for Russia’s telecommunications and former executive of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company under scrutiny in the US.

An appeal of Romania’s USR party

Romania’s center right-wing Save Romania Union (USR) called on both parliament’s upper house and lower house leaders to repeal a draft law designed to increase pensions of mayors and MPs. A draft law is currently blocked despite calls for debates on the matter. “We proposed a draft law designed to repeal such increases, and it is a matter of political will to put an end to such privileges. This is the law we put forward, and it includes just one single article. It was in May when I submitted the draft law. However, one thing remains unprecedented: Marcel Ciolacu (leader of the governing left-wing Social Democrat Party – PSD) rejected a debate on the draft law in parliament”, USR President Cătălin Drulă said as quoted by Radio Romania.

Romania’s Cabinet meeting

An emergency order designed to allow a 50 bani (subdivision on the Romanian Leu) compensation on gas and diesel prices between October 1 and December 31 is under debate at a Romanian Cabinet meeting on Thursday. The fuel price subsidy was already underway for three month with an expiring date on September 30 with a budget impact of RON 900 million, according to government sources. “Further compensations are needed to counter the negative impact of fuel prices on living standards and economic operators”, according to a statement of Romanian Prime Ministr Nicolae Ciucă. An approval of the ruling is expected within days, Radio Romania reported.

Alexandru Danga