Romania and Ukraine officially reopen Rakavat-Diakivtsi border crossing point
The Rakavat-Diakivtsi border crossing point between Romania and Ukraine officially reopened on Friday, almost 13 years after the modernisation programme was launched. The border crossing point was closed in 2010 because it did not comply with Schengen security rules with non-EU countries. The inaugural event was attended by Romanian government officials, local authorities and members of the Romanian Border Police. The border crossing point will be open for international, pedestrian and road traffic without goods, with a permanent opening schedule, and operationalisation for other types of vehicles and goods will gradually follow. The staff structure on the Romanian side consists of 51 border guards and 21 employees, and there will also be a working point of the National Road Infrastructure Management Company at the border for checks and payment of national road user charges. In the current geopolitical context, Rakovac Customs is of strategic importance, as it can contribute to the shaping of a pan-European, humanitarian and economic corridor, especially for the foreign trade of Ukraine and Romania.
Romania and the Republic of Moldova carry out joint controls at Albița-Leușeni customs
The Interior Ministers of Romania and the Republic of Moldova signed on Thursday in Vaslui, Romania, an agreement on joint controls at the Albița-Leușeni common border crossing point. „Part of the specialists of the customs structures of the Republic of Moldova will work on the Romanian side. Basically, we will not have two successive checks, but only one, in one place, and processing and waiting times will obviously be reduced”, explains Romanian Minister of Interior Lucian Bode. Before the war in Ukraine, fewer than 5 million crossings of the Romanian-Moldovan common border were registered annually, but the number almost doubled last year.
Romania provides emergency and humanitarian support to Turkey and Syria
Romania has sent two teams of rescuers and medical staff to Turkey. In addition, search and rescue materials and equipment, as well as essential supplies, have been sent by military aircraft. The Romanian specialists who arrived on the scene were shocked to see the scale of the disaster, says Romanian team coordinator Colonel Bogdan Vlăduțoiu. The chances of finding people alive under the rubble are decreasing by the hour, but no one is giving up and everyone is concentrating their efforts to find more survivors, said Colonel Vladuțoiu. „We expected the situation to be quite complicated, with particular challenges for us, because the scale of the disaster we encountered here I, at least, have never seen anywhere else. There are a lot of collapsed buildings, there are practically whole streets where there are no buildings left standing, or where those that are left standing are practically uninhabitable, unusable. We are all aware that, as time goes by, the chances of finding survivors decrease. At the same time, we have learned in our job that miracles do happen – and as long as these chances exist, as long as the authorities in Turkey tell us that our support is needed, we will continue our mission in this area,” said Colonel Vlăduțoiu. So far, 38 Romanians and two Polish citizens have been flown to Bucharest by Romanian military aircraft from the areas severely affected by the earthquakes. The Romanian rescue team has also pulled several survivors out of the rubble, including a 60-year-old woman. The victim, who was conscious and handed over to medical teams, was pulled from under the rubble of a nine-storey block of flats. At the express request of the Turkish authorities, the Romanian rescue missions continued outside the sector initially assigned.
Romania is also providing support to Syria, where several types of shelter and food have been sent. The transport includes thousands of canned food, hundreds of tents and beds, mattresses and sleeping bags, thick clothes, worth a total of more than 400,000 euros.
Magda Baciu
