Romania’s COVID-19 updates
Romania confirmed 182,854 COVID-19 cases on Monday, October 19, 2,466 cases more than figures a day before, according to data put forward by the country’s Strategic Communication Group (GCS) on Monday. 59 people have died raising the number of deaths at 5,931. Romania is experiencing a spike of coronavirus cases that many feared was the start of a second wave of the virus. Regions with highest COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days included the capital Bucharest (3.18 cases per 1,000 people), followed by the Transylvanian county of Alba (2,95 cases per 1,000 people), and Romania’s north-western county of Sălaj (2,64 cases per 12,000 people). Globally, on October 19, there have been 39,801,612 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,110,908 deaths, according to data released by WHO on Monday.
Romania’s foreign minister on a visit to US
Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu starts an official visit to the US on Monday when he is expected to meet US State Secretary Mike Pompeo following an invitation of his American counterpart. Talks include issues concerning bilateral co-operation in political, military, energy and economic areas, and projects promoted by Romania within the Three Seas Initiative. Minister Aurescu is also expected to insist on Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Programme. The visit is also designed to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Romania-US diplomatic relations. The visit was originally scheduled for early April but it was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Romania’s president expected to attend an EU summit in Estonia
Estonia is hosting a digital summit of countries in the Three Seas Initiative on Monday, bringing together 12 UE Member States neighbouring the Black Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Baltic Sea. President Klaus Iohannis is expected to represent Romania at the summit. The Three Seas Intitiative, also known as BABS (Baltic, Adriatic and Black Sea initiative) is a forum of twelve EU Member States aimed at creating an intermarium based on regional dialogue on various issues concerning the area. Member States include Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, and they met for the first time in 2016, in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik. The summit on Monday is seen as an important step in further enforcing the initiative.
Alexandru Danga, RADOR
