|
|
RADOR: News from Romania, 98-09-28
September 28, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] "Caspian Energy to Europe" Conference in Bucharest;
[02] Prime Minister Radu Vasile on His Alleged Cabinet Reshuffle;
[03] PUNR President at a Religious Service Dedicated to Romanian Martyrs
Killed by Horthy Troops;
[04] PAR Leader on a Visit to Miercurea Ciuc;
[05] Brancovan Establishment Resanctified in Istanbul;
[06] Seventh Annual Conference of German Language Teacher Association in
Romania.
[01] "Caspian Energy to Europe" conference in Bucharest
The Conference on "Caspian Energy to Europe" has opened at the Parliament
Palace in Bucharest on Sunday. The conference is hosted by the "Romania at
Crossroads" Forum following an initiative of Romania's Presidency. In his
opening speech, President Emil Constantinescu has insisted on the
importance of the projects to be discussed during the two-day debate as
such projects followed the Asia-Europe energy route where Romania was
trying to play a major role. The restoration of the "Silk Route", with
Romania part of it, is an attempt to cross other strategic routes linking
the Pacific and the Atlantic, the president said. RADOR
The Romanian project of a so-called South-East-European oil pipe crossing
Romania's territory adds to another two versions: the Ukrainian proposal on
one hand and the Greek and Bulgarian proposal on the other, or, in his
opening speech, President Constantinescu said the Romanian offer was
completing and not competing with the two projects. Analysts say Romania is
quite late in raising the interest of the oil companies involved in the so-
called "contract of the century". An expert in Russian affairs said that
"it was not in Bucharest where big decisions were supposed to be made. Big
decisions are made in Washington and in other big capitals of the world,
and it is there where Romania should be more active on oil markets.
Unfortnately, we hosted forums, we made beautiful speeches while the big
oil companies expressed rather little interest in them, and the big
companies are really playing a major role in the decision-making". RADOR
Prime ministers, ambassadors and senior representatives of major oil
companies in the world are expected to decide in three days the transport
routes for the Caspian oil. The authorities in Bucharest hope Romania will
be very convincing in presenting its offer. President Constantinescu
explained that Romania had a tradition of 100 years in oil drilling,
processing and ditributing, the country was an element of stability in
Central and Eastern Europe and the crossing point of any Caspian oil
transport route. "When we made the task the centre of our foreign policy
strategy along with the country's European and Euro-Atlantic integration,
we were also thinking abot the new Europe, the new Europe we all expect",
the president said. RADOR
[02] Prime Minister Radu Vasile on his alleged Cabinet reshuffle
Romanian Prime Minister Radu Vasile said the law on government
restructuring could lead to his alleged Cabinet reshuffle. In a statement
on Saturday, he indicated that the law was allowing the prime minister
establish his own Cabinet structure. He however added that the final
decision belonged to political leaders who were supposed to find the
concrete formulas designed to operate the changes in government structures.
According to Mr Vasile, there are no elements to confirm recent press
reports of a list of ministers about to lose their jobs in the very nexy
future. Even if newly appointed, any government could operate such changes,
the prime minister concluded. RADOR
[03] PUNR president at a religious service dedicated to Romanian martyrs
killed by Horthy troops
The leader of the Romanians' National Unity Party (PUNR), Valeriu Tabara,
has attended on Sunday a religious service at the Memorial dedicated to the
Romanian martyrs killed by Horthy troops in September 1944 in the
Transylvanian city of Turda, Cluj County. A PUNR communique says Mr Tabara
was accompanied by a PUNR MP Delegation along with representatives of PUNR
branches in Transylvania. RADOR
[04] PAR leader on a visit to Miercurea Ciuc
While on a visit to Miercurea Ciuc on Sunday, the president of Romania's
Alternative Party (PAR), Varujan Vosganian, told a press conference that
leading politicians should repeatedly visit the Transylvanian counties of
Covasna, Harghita and Mures to help the "Romanians living there get rid of
their feeling of isolation". He believes the economic development in the
area is the only way to calm down the hard-line speeches of both Romanians
and Hungarians. Meeting the Bishop of Covasna and Harghita Ioan Salajan,
the PAR leader promised to clarify the situation in the counties' museums
as well as financial aid for the church in the next year. "The Romanians
are displeased with the fact that the museums in Harghita and Covasna are
neglecting them by making only unsignificant and accidental references to
their history", Mr Vosganian said. RADOR
[05] Brancovan establishment resanctified in Istanbul
While visiting the Turkish city of Istanbul on Sunday, a Romanian Christian
Orthodox Church delegation led by Patriarch Teoctist has attended a
religious service resanctifying the Christian Orthodox Church dedicated to
Saint Paraskevi. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinopoles has been also
attending the ceremony. The church in Istanbul was founded by Romanian
ruler and martyr Constantin Brancoveanu. RADOR
[06] Seventh annual Conference of German Language Teacher Association in
Romania
Under the auspices of the Hans Seidel Organisation and the Commission for
education affairs in the National Minority Council, the seventh annual
Conference of German Language Teacher Association in Romania has ended in
the Black Sea resort of Mangalia on Sunday. Participants included more than
100 filologists, government experts and German language writers in or
outside Romania. Romania's Education Minister Andrei Marga, State Secretary
Klaus Fabrizius of the Department for minority protection, Austrian
Ambassador to Romania Karl Wetter von der Lilly and Wolfgang Benzing,
Deputy Director of the Goethe Institut in Bucharest, have been also
attending the meeting. RADOR
|