#Refugees

On April 12, 65,276 people entered Romania through the border points, including 9,429 Ukrainian citizens (increasing by 12.9% compared to the previous day). 5,721 Ukrainian citizens entered the border with Ukraine (up 16%), and 1,787 Ukrainian citizens entered the border with the Republic of Moldova (up 18.7%).

From the beginning of this crisis, until April 12, at 24.00, at a national level, 694,783 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania. (Border Police)

Director General of the Romanian Red Cross, Ioan Silviu Lefter, said on Tuesday that a larger group of refugees from Ukraine could arrive in Romania if fighting in the eastern part of Ukraine intensifies. (Agerpres)

 

#Meetings

On an official visit to Romania on Wednesday (13/04), Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was welcomed at the government headquarters by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca. Later, together with President Klaus Iohannis, the Romanian and Belgian prime ministers were scheduled to tour the 57th Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base. (Agerpres)

  • Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Tuesday that the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine has been immense and that the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, would not go unpunished.
  • He stressed that the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine is immense, with over one million Ukrainians having left their homes. “We have over 35,000 registered refugees in Belgium”, De Croo said.
  • Alexander De Croo is convinced that other sanctions will be imposed on the Russian Federation for an even stronger impact, but this must be done in a prudent manner, “without endangering our own population and its prosperity.” (Agerpres)
  • The Belgian Prime Minister appreciated the efforts made by Romania to help the Ukrainian refugees.
  • The balanced, long-term consolidation of NATO’s defence and deterrence posture must be accelerated, President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, in a joint conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
  • President Iohannis stressed the need for a new NATO Strategic Concept, which must “reaffirm collective defence as a fundamental priority task of the Alliance and explicitly state that Russia is the main threat to NATO security.”
  • President Klaus Iohannis declared on Tuesday that military aid in Ukraine is being sent by NATO. (Agerpres)
  • President Iohannis also stated that it is good the energy mix is decided at the level of each European country, showing that Romania will extend the capacity of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant and probably, in a relatively short time frame, there will be small, modular nuclear power plants.
  • The Belgian official said that his country took the decision to extend the functioning of nuclear power plants. (Agerpres)

The ships under the flag of Ukraine are given priority in Romanian ports and are exempt from paying port services, Romanian Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu announced in a talk with the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean. “The goods transported with Ukraine as their destination, especially the containers, are received and unloaded in our ports, and for their transfer, there is also a container line on the route from Constanta to Giurgiulesti (Republic of Moldova),” Grindeanu said. Grindeanu held a video conference on Tuesday with Adina Valean, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa Nayyem, and his counterpart from the Republic of Moldova, Andrei Spinu, on the extremely important role of the flow of goods to and from Ukraine or the Republic of Moldova for the economy of the two countries. (News.ro)

 

#Humanitarian

A collection of NFTs, launched in a project coordinated by civic entrepreneur and current MP Sebastian Burduja, aims to raise funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The Rebuild Ukraine collection includes nine NFTs, each representing a city in Ukraine. For each donation, the donor will receive a special edition NFT. The money will be raised in a digital wallet to be redirected to the Ukrainian authorities, supporting their efforts to rebuild after the war, the project representatives said. “We offer people worldwide a novel, digital option of getting involved, an NFT that will always remind them of their contribution. We are trying to send a global message of peace, support for human rights and commitment to democratic values,” Alexandru Popescu, the project manager for the NFT collection, explained. (Gandul)