Embassy of in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

No. 7/ 5th Year 15th – 30th of April 2012 Politics 1. , Guido Westerwelle meet in Berlin 2. ForMin Diaconescu and Secretary of State Clinton meeting in Brussels 3. Romania is advocating developing cooperation with Iraq at EU level 4. Diplomat awards for excellence in diplomacy 5. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs – 150 years 6. President of European Council paid his third visit to 7. International Panel organised by Romanian chair of HCoC 8. The Romanian and Chinese prime ministers had a bilateral meeting in Warsaw 9. Censure motion has been adopted; The Government has fallen Economics 1. IMF, EC and World Bank joint delegation received at Cotroceni Palace 2. Economic growth to get to 1.7 percent in 2012 3. Twelve states, Romania included, oppose transfer of cohesion funds to richer states 4. Mergers and acquisitions to speed up in 2012 5. Chinese investment worth 15M Euros 6. Unemployment rate to drop to 7.1 percent in 2012 and to 6.5 percent in 2015 7. FAO Agriculture Ministers to meet in Romania in 2014 8. Pound trades at 5.40 lei Education and Culture

1. President Basescu says part of natural resource exploitation benefits should be invested in education 2. Ambassador of Romania visits to York and Glasgow 3. East Meets East: The Romanian New Wave in the Olympic Boroughs 4. Special screening and DVD launch of Tuesday, After Christmas 5. Poet and broadcaster Robert Şerban debuts in London at the British Library 6. Fairytale Images and Books 7. Glorious new sound with dazzling Romanian pianist-composer Lucian Ban and legendary violist 8. Enescu presented at the Newbury Festival by the Văcărescu – Tsunakawa Duo 9. Alexandra Dăriescu premiers Lipatti‟s “Concertino” with the Orchestra of St Paul's 10. After the New Man: Photographic Exhibition by Dana Popa 11. Bucharest Calling! Ioana Paun presents new work in London 12. Norman Manea: Royal Society of Literature Fellowship Ceremony and Book Launch 13. The Body Adorned: Folk Romanian Costume, Inspired by Queen Maria‟s Style 14. LEARN ROMANIAN IN ROMANIA 15. European Film Festival, in May, in Bucharest

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

 Politics

Cristian Diaconescu, Guido Westerwelle meet in Berlin

Bucharest, April 16th/ Agerpres/ Romania's Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle met during the official visit the former paid to Berlin, on April 16-17, 2012, in the context of the 20th anniversary, on April 21 of the signing of the Treaty between the Federal Republic of and the Republic of Romania concerning Friendly Co-operation and Partnership in , informs the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) release.

The talks' agenda also scheduled issues of bilateral interest and topical files of the European and the international policy.

The two Foreign Ministers gladly emphasized the excellent level of the political and economic cooperation between Romania and Germany, which has been proved by the frequent summit meetings, during the latest years, and the consolidation of Germany's position as Romania's first-ranked commercial partner.

The bilateral exchanges between Germany and Romania exceeded 17 billion euros, late in 2011, by 25 percent higher than in the previous year.

Romania's top diplomat reiterated the Romanian Government's determination to secure a favorable climate to the foreign investors, and invited the German party to increase its investments in our country, particularly in fields such as energy, banking, infrastructure, regional development.

ForMin Cristian Diaconescu also underscored the considerable contribution the German minority living in Romania, and the Romanian community living in Germany make to the development of the bilateral relationships.

Referring to the European agenda, ForMin Diaconescu conveyed the Romanian party's appreciation for the favourable stance the German partners took regarding Romania's joining the Schengen Space.

"I want to thank Foreign Minister Westerwelle for Germany's support and constructive approach to Romania's accession to the Schengen area. I explained that we are prepared to secure the EU external borders, as it has been also confirmed at the Council in June 2011, so that I express hope that the EU states, which are still reticent about Romania's joining the Schengen

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Treaty will agree on the decision on our joining, due to be made in September 2012," said Romania's Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The talks' agenda also scheduled topics like the economic governance, the EU financial perspectives, the EU good neighborliness policy in the Eastern space, the energy security. There was also mentioned the possibility to develop projects together with the German partners under the aegis of the EU Strategy for the Danube region.

As for the foreign relations, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs pleaded for the consolidation of the European prospects of the Republic of Moldova. There were also approached the ways and manners to reinvigorate the Eastern Partnership. It was also reiterated the support for the enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans.

The two officials also exchanged opinions on the developments in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly on recent escalations in Syria. And they agreed on the requirement that a special attention must be paid to the assistance to the democratic transition, through political and economic support to the countries in that area, viewing their stabilization and the consolidation of the state of law and the development of a close cooperation with the European Union.

ForMin Diaconescu and Secretary of State Clinton meeting in Brussels

Bucharest, April 18th/ Agerpres/Romania's Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu in Brussels met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he requested support from the US Administration so that the Visa Waiver Program may pass in a way that will allow including Romania therein as soon as possible.

"Minister Diaconescu brought up for discussion the prospects for Romania being included in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), underscoring the major interest of Romania in meeting this objective. At the same time, he asked for the Obama Administration's support for having the US Senate pass the bill modifying the VWP accession criteria in a way that will allow including Romania therein as soon as possible," the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) reports in a pres release.

The two officials voiced satisfaction over the consolidation and continuing enlargement of the strategic partnership, which was formally enshrined in a joint declaration on a strategic partnership for the 21st century, signed on September 13, 2011 in Washington.

MAE says that as far as the bilateral cooperation projects under the Romanian-US Strategic Partnership are concerned, a document signed by Romania's President Traian Basescu and US

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

President Barack Obama, satisfaction was voiced over the progress with negotiating arrangements for implementing in Romania part of the US ballistic missile defence system, adding that the related agreement reconfirms robust collaboration between Romania and the US in the military area while creating the necessary bases for intensifying such cooperation.

The ballistic missile defence project becomes a reality thanks to Romania's efforts, MAE quotes the American State Secretary Clinton as saying.

At the meeting, Secretary of State Clinton extended thanks for Romania continuing its presence in Afghanistan.

Ministers Diaconescu and Clinton underscored the need to boost trade and stimulate the interest of the US investors in the Romanian market. Romanian minister pointed out that this dimension will be a priority of a bilateral working group in charge with implementing the joint declaration, a group that was set up under the aegis of Romania's Prime Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu.

The Romanian chief diplomat also hailed the recent establishment of a Romanian-US Business Council that is expected to significantly contribute to consolidating the bilateral relations between the two countries in business and trade, reiterating Romania's interest in expanding and diversifying cooperation with the US in the energy field.

The American State Secretary is quoted as underscoring the importance of solutions being sought that will consolidate Romania's energy security and saying that the US wants to intensify its energy dialogue with Romania. In this respect, Special Envoy of the Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar will pay a visit to Bucharest.

The two officials also exchanged opinions on topics of shared interest on the global and security agenda in the run-up to the NATO Chicago Summit.

Romania is advocating developing cooperation with Iraq at EU level

State Secretary with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) Luminita Odobescu welcomed a visiting delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Iraqi's Parliament headed by Humam Baqer Abdul Majeed Hammoodi, whom she told Romania is advocating developing cooperation with Iraq at EU level. 'The Romanian official indicated that Romania is constantly advocating in the European Union developing cooperation with Iraq at all levels,' MAE reports in a press release.

Discussions at the meeting focused on Romania's relations with Iraq and the latest developments in the Middle East, with emphasis on the importance of stability and security there. 'Odobescu underscored Romania's support for the reconstruction of Iraq and the consolidation of the Iraqi state institutions, as well as Romania's interest in the prospects for deepening bilateral cooperation, given the history of Romanian-Iraqi political and economic relations,' reads the release.

Cooperation in training Iraqi specialists in Romania's education system, the participation of Romanian troops in the efforts to stabilise Iraq as well as the potential of restarting bilateral

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

economic relations in various sectors were also mentioned at the meeting. (ActMedia, April 18, 2012)

Diplomat awards for excellence in diplomacy

Embassy of Romania – London/ On April 24th, 2012, the Ambassador of Romania to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Dr. Ion Jinga, received the title “DIPLOMAT of the Year from Europe”.

The initiative to bestow annual awards for excellence in diplomacy, in recognition of exemplary contributions of diplomats accredited in the United Kingdom, belongs to the Diplomat magazine, a publication for the members of the diplomatic corps, British political and business communities, and think- tanks.

At the ceremony, the Press Attaché of the Embassy of Romania, Dr. Cristina-Narcisa Niţă, President-in-Office of the Diplomatic Press Attaches Association of London, also received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Press Corps.

Nominalisations were debated by a judges‟ panel of senior diplomats, after stringent evaluation of the professional activity in the past year. The recipients of the awards were recommended by the members of the diplomatic corps accredited in London.

The event is at its third edition and enjoys a great success and attention from the diplomatic community and local media. The bestowal ceremony took place at The Langham in the presence of foreign diplomats, senior officials, FCO diplomats and representatives of the British press.

The title „Diplomat of the Year” is bestowed upon just one Ambassador, representing Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa or Americas. There are also awards offered for the outstanding contribution to the Women in Diplomacy, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Year and the Young Diplomat of the Year.

Expressing his gratitude for the honour of being awarded „Diplomat of the Year from Europe”, the Ambassador Ion Jinga said: “I see in this prize the acknowledgement of the Diplomatic Service of Romania professionalism as a whole, for the

Arundel House, 4 Palace Green London W8 4QD UK Phone: 0044 (0)20 7937 9666 Fax: 0044 (0)20 7937 8069 e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.london.mae.ro

Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______quality and dedication of the team with whom I work at the Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom – proved also by the fact the Press Attaché of the Embassy received today an award for her outstanding contribution to the Press corps.

In equal measure is, I think, the result of the diplomatic activity I carry on with earnestness and passion in service of my country, Romania. Personally, this award means the satisfaction of a job well done and the joy which one experiences when seeing his family proud of his achievements.”

The nominalisations of the Ambassador of Romania and of the Press Attaché of the Embassy at the Diplomat Awards 2012 is an honour, in a such competitive diplomatic milieu as London, and represents a confirmation for the excellence level of the bilateral relations between Romania and the United Kingdom, within the frame of the Strategic partnership re-launched last year with the visit of President of Romania, as guest of Her Majesty‟s Government.

The Ambassador Ion Jinga previously received, the title of the „The Ambassador of the Year 2007 in the Kingdom of Belgium” while in Brussels, from Diplomatic News magazine and Diplomacy and Global Risks organisation, and Cristina-Narcisa Niţă received the award for „The Best Press Attaché of the Year 2003 in the Kingdom of Belgium”. Both ceremonies took place at Palais d’Egmont, headquarters of the Belgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the Belgian minister for European Affairs.

THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS – 150 YEARS

Bucharest, April 25/ MFA Press Office/ Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu launched on April 25th, at a press conference held at the MFA headquarters, a sequence of events to be organized this year to mark 150 years since the institution was founded. Attending the event were members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Bucharest, Romanian diplomats, former career ambassadors, representatives of the academic environment and journalists.

In his address, the Minister of Foreign Affairs underscored the contribution of the Romanian diplomacy to accomplishing the Romanian unitary nation state and asserting Romania‟s role in the world. “Since the Union of the Romanian Principalities under Prince Alexandru Ioan I we can speak of the modern Romanian state. From that point the Romanian diplomacy endeavoured to establish relations with the other states of the world, in order to have the Union recognized, to maintain the territorial integrity and obtain state independence. (…) Now, when we are marking one and a half century of modern diplomacy, we pay homage to every Romanian diplomat that served their country faithfully and loyally, while in the country or in exile, to those subjected to Soviet-type purges and especially to those who were jailed and died in the Communist prisons,” stated the head of Romanian diplomacy.

On the occasion, Minister Cristian Diaconescu and the CEO of Romfilatelia, Cristina Popescu, launched a stamp issue devoted to the MFA‟s 150th anniversary.

“The postage stamp is a national symbol that throws bridges of friendship without any barriers. Romfilatelia’s stamp issues are in the service of your events, as they preserve, as part of the heritage of Romanian philately, the memory of major moments in the history of our nation,” said Romfilatelia CEO Cristina Popescu.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

At the end of the event, Minister Cristian Diaconescu and the Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, director general of the National History Museum of Romania, inaugurated an exhibition devoted to . The items on display in the Gafencu lobby of the MFA, borrowed from the National History Museum, include the throne of ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza, his officer‟s dress, the saber encrusted with brilliants, rubies and emeralds, the Turkish „Medgidie Order” decoration and several other decorations and orders. The exhibits will remain on display at the MFA headquarters until the end of May.

The events arranged by the MFA to mark the 150 years of the modern Romanian diplomacy include and exhibition of heritage items from the National History Museum, a film presenting the evolution of Romanian diplomacy, several lectures and celebration of this anniversary alongside all ambassadors of Romania, on the occasion of Diplomacy Day.

Background

The Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of today‟s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was founded on 27 July / 8 August 1862 by virtue of a decree issued by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. 150 years of diplomacy (1862 – 2012) mean 150 years of modern Romanian history, when the Romanian diplomatic corps has put its work under the slogan “Semper fidelis patriae”.

To note, however, that the year 1862 has a twofold significance: it is the year when the MFA was founded and it is also the year when the full administrative union of the two principalities – Moldavia and Wallachia – was achieved, when the Legislative Assembly and the Government of the new Romanian state came into being, and when Bucharest became the capital city. The gallery of visionary diplomats who helped build the Romanian diplomacy comprises Vasile Alecsandri, Costache Negri, , Mihail Kogalniceanu, , Vespasian V. Pella, Constantin Karagea.

The stamp issue “150 years – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” includes one postage stamp the nominal value of which is 2.10 Lei, one first-day envelope, a stamp sheet and a philatelic document. This stamp issue features the image of , the one who held for the first time the position of foreign minister of Romania, the image of the Sturdza Palace that harboured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the early 20th century, and images of Romanian diplomats in ceremonial dress. The stamp issue devoted to the MFA‟s 150 years can be acquired from Romfilatelia shops.

Partners in the event were Romfilatelia, the Romanian Television Company and the National History Museum of Romania.

President of European Council paid his third visit to Bucharest

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy paid a visit to Bucharest on April 25th, where he met President Traian Basescu, held a speech in the Parliament plenum and had a working breakfast with PM Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

This was Herman Van Rompuy third visit to Bucharest with the first in January 2010 and the second in February 2011.

According to the agenda posted on the website of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy will also pay a visit to Bulgaria upon leaving Bucharest, during which he is going to meet Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov. (ActMedia, April 25, 2012)

International Panel organised by the Romanian chair of HCoC

Bucharest, April 26th / MFA Press Office/ State Secretary Luminiţa Odobescu attended on 26 April 2012 the opening session of an international panel on “The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC) – 10 Years of International Cooperation”, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her address on the occasion, the Romanian State Secretary reviewed the role and goals of HCoC, emphasizing the importance of universalizing, fully implementing this arrangement and developing the cooperation of this mechanism with the UN.

Organized by the Romanian chair of HCoC, the panel debated the prospects of multilateral cooperation in the framework of that arrangement, the stage reached in implementing relevant measures and transparency commitments, as well as the challenges of the global crisis of ballistic missile proliferation.

The panel was attended by representatives of 40 states that subscribed to the HCoC. On 27 April 2012, another session of the panel was devoted to the dialogue with the representatives of non-HCoC states interested in this cooperation mechanism.

The Romanian and Chinese prime ministers had a bilateral meeting in Warsaw

Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu had talks with the Chinese counterpart about the possibility that Romania should become a regional hub for Chinese high-tech investments which Romania might later export to the rest of Europe.

Prime Minster Ungureanu took part in the working meeting of the prime ministers of the central and south-eastern states in Europe and their Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, held in Warsaw. The Romanian and Chinese prime ministers had a bilateral meeting.

'We talked about the possibility that Romania might become a regional hub for the Chinese companies manufacturing wind turbines, PV solar panels, everything that means high-tech that can be employed to produce renewable energy, which we can later export to the European market afterwards,' Prime Minister Ungureanu said.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

Romanian Prime Minister added that Romania wants to turn Constanta Port in a gate for Chinese products in the EU.

'We want to capitalize on the strategic advantages of Romania as a state near the Black Sea and the Danube by turning the Port of Constanta into a gate for industrial Chinese products to the region we are part of and to Europe, the European Union, of course,' the Romanian prime minister said.

According to him, next in the relation between the Chinese investors with the Central and Eastern Europe comes the opening of a special credit line to help loans for investments in technology.

'The reply of the Chinese part was highly satisfying. We are talking about this multilateral meeting. Not to mention the opening of a special credit line to boost loans directed towards infrastructure, high-tech, green economy, renewable energy. The Chinese party came with the proposal to hold regional economic missions where each country represented today [Thursday] should bring their own contribution,' the Head of Government added.

Romania is interested in organizing 2013 Central Europe-China Economic Forum in Bucharest

Romania is interested in organizing the Central Europe-China Economic Forum in Bucharest next year with a view to playing an important part in the relationship with the above-mentioned Asian state, said spokesman for the Government Dan Suciu.

'It is in Romania's interest that the next meeting of this kind, as these meetings are held once a year, should be in Bucharest. It is in the very interest of playing an important part in the area from the economic standpoint of the relationship with China that this role must be developed and it is in Romania's interest that the next meeting of this kind should be in Bucharest in the economic context we are referring to, with the necessary questions and with the necessary partnership with countries that have the possibility to help us and offer us the chances for further development,' said Suciu. (ActMedia, April 30, 2012)

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

Censure motion has been adopted; The Government has fallen

A censure motion initiated by the opposition adopted by Parliament with 235 votes for the motion and 9 votes against, according to secretary of the Chamber of Deputies Georgian Pop.

To be adopted the censure motion needed 231 votes, that is half plus one of the total number of parliamentarians (460).

Ungureanu Government was invested by Parliament 78 days ago, on February 9, by a vote of 237 to two.

According to Article 110 of the Constitution, the Government is dismissed on the date when Parliament withdraws the confidence it granted. In this case, reads the Constitution, the provisions of Article 103 are applied, according to which Romania's President designates a candidate for the position of Prime Minister after consulting the party that has the absolute majority in Parliament or, if there is no such majority, the parties represented in Parliament.

According to Article 103, the candidate for the position of Prime Minister will request, within 10 days after he was designated, the vote of confidence of Parliament on the programme and the entire list of the Government. The programme and list of the Government are debated by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in joint session. Parliament grants confidence to the Government by the vote of the majority of deputies and senators.

President Basescu designates PSD's Chairman Ponta prime minister Chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) , also co-chair of the opposition Social Liberal Union (USL) of PSD, the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Conservative Party (PC), on April 27 was designated Romania's prime minister by President Traian Basescu. No reason to panic, Romania's Finance Ministry has substantial reserves President Traian Basescu said, on April 27, that currently there is no reason to panic on the markets, given that the Parliament's plenary sitting voted in favour of the no-confidence motion that led to Ungureanu Government's downfall.

The head of state stressed that Romania has 'substantial reserves' at the Ministry of Finance, which can cope with any event.

'Only a comparison, because it seems fair to tell you this, Government took over with zero resources, even the amount of 3.1 billion Euros from privatizations, from the development fund, 1.3 billion Euros were spent, and Romania could borrow money at interest rates of 14.26 percent on the domestic market. Today, Romania has borrowed on the domestic market at an interest rate of 6.6 percent, which shows an evolving credibility, and the Ministry of Finance has reserves of 5 billion Euros, along with a program to borrow yet another billion Euros from the World Bank on long-term. Romania has no reason to panic. Everything is within democratic and manageable limits and under control from the state security point of view', President Basescu emphasized. (ActMedia, April 30, 2012)

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

 Economics

IMF, EC and World Bank joint delegation received at Cotroceni Palace

President Traian Basescu welcomed the representatives of the joint mission of the IMF, the EC and the WB at Cotroceni Palace.

President Traian Basescu, opening the meeting with the joint mission of the IMF, the WB and the EC, said that it was a real challenge for Romania to maintain its position economically during the election year, adding that our country was determined to do this.

The IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks pointed out that the delegation evaluated Romania's macroeconomic forecast, showing that our country endures better than many states in Europe.

We have just begun our mission. We are making excellent progress; we are evaluating the macroeconomic forecast. We are looking at the macroeconomic forecast and we see that the evolutions have changed over the past few months. As you know, there are still negative effects on the rest of Europe, but Romania endures better than many [states] this year. It will not be on a very high level, but it will be better, Jeffrey Franks said.

'My intention was only to welcome you, I do not want to get into the matters that will be assessed during this mission. It is much too early, but, of course, we can establish together the main objectives or we can discuss the main objectives of this mission and I am extremely interested in seeing how we shall look at the following objectives and how you will evaluate the progress made in our programme,' President Basescu said.

Jeffrey Franks said it was his last visit as chief of the IMF delegation.

The joint mission is here for the fifth review of the precautionary stand-by loan agreed with the Romanian authorities.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

Jeffrey Franks to attend first summit on corporate governance in Bucharest

Chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission for Romania Jeffrey Franks on May 4, at the National Bank of Romania (BNR), will attend the first summit on corporate governance in Romania before handing over as head of the negotiators' team to Erik de Vrijer from the Netherlands.

According to the agenda of the conference obtained by Agerpres, Jeffrey Franks will speak of the reforms in the field of state owned companies and of the economic growth.

BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu and chief of the European Commission mission in Bucharest Istvan Szekely are also on the agenda of the conference, together with managers of large private energy producing companies, representatives of the banking system, of the Council of Foreign Investors.

New president of the Romanian Commercial Bank Tomas Spurny is a guest at the conference as well as Raiffeisen Bank president Steven van Groningen and Petrom CEO Mariana Gheorghe. (ActMedia, April 27, 2012)

Economic growth to get to 1.7 percent in 2012

Romania will report an economic growth of 1.7 percent in 2012 according to the convergence programme for 2012-2015, lower than the previous version of the programme that forecast a 4 percent growth.

The forecast for the real gross domestic product is a 3.1 percent growth for 2013, of 3.6 percent for 2014 and of 3.9 percent for 2015.

'The risk of a slower pace of economic growth in the EU member states will be compensated by a better absorption of the EU funds and by the gradual comeback of domestic demand, as the policies providing macroeconomic and financial stability will continue to be firmly implemented. The domestic demand will represent the engine of economic growth, as the GFCG (gross fixed capital formation) will be 7.2 percent higher, and the budget expenses with the investments,' reads the document.

The exports of goods are estimated to grow by 7.4 percent and the imports by 11.1 percent, the percentage of the FOB-CIF (free on board and cost, insurance, freight) trade deficit will go up by 1.6 percent compared to the 2011 (7.1 percent compared to 5.5 percent). The intra-community exports will go up by 7.2 percent and those outside the European community will go up by 7.7 percent, whereas the intra-community imports will go up by 11.3 percent and the extra- community will go up by 10.7 percent.

Considering the evolution of the world economy over the upcoming period, the forecast is for annual average higher exports of goods by 11.2 percent and higher imports of 11.8 percent between 2012 and 2015, with the trade deficit going on an upward trend up to 8.7 percent in 2015.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

The current account deficit of the balance of payments is expected to remain in sustainable limits, so as to represent 5.2 percent of the GDP, being covered by independent sources that do not generate interest, for 88 percent.

The level of the current account deficit will remain within 7.8 and 8.7 billion Euros between 2013 and 2015 representing 5.2 percent of the GDP in 2013 and 5 percent in 2015 and will be almost entirely covered by independent sources that do not generate interest over the entire period.

As regards inflation, it will remain at a low level, reaching 3.5 percent with an annual average value of 3 percent.

The downward trend for inflation between 2013 and 2015 will go on. Thus, the inflation rate is to drop by 2.3 percent in 2015 with an annual average of 2.5 percent.

As regards the occupied population, they will go up by 0.3 percent in 2012 and the number of employed will go up by 0.2 percent in the same year.

The convergence programme is annually revised in Bucharest and later sent to Brussels to be approved after it was approved by the Romanian government. (ActMedia, April 25, 2012)

Twelve states, Romania included, oppose transfer of cohesion funds to richer states

Romania and another 11 European Union (EU) member states, plus Croatia, in the General Affairs Council (GAC) in Luxembourg, presented a declaration voicing their opposition to any mechanism that might lead to the transfer of cohesion funds from the poorer states to the richer ones in the future multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020.

The member states that signed the declaration are Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, , Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia, which were joined by Croatia that will become a member of the Union on July 1, 2013.

At the same time the Ministers of European Affairs of the above-mentioned states say that the cohesion policy must concentrate its efforts on the less developed regions and member states and more attention must be paid to the current convergence regions of the poorer member countries.

Especially under the present-day economic circumstances we should concentrate on those instruments that promote growth, jobs and investments. The cohesion policy has an essential part to play in getting out of the crisis. The EU needs a sound cohesion policy in order to finalize and deepen the domestic market. At the suggestion of the European Commission the budget of the cohesion policy is already frozen, as it will be in 2013 in nominal terms. The budget of the cohesion policy was cut from 354 billion Euros in the current multi-annual financial framework (2007-2013) to 336 billion Euros over 2014-2020. Given the challenges referring to the economic, social and territorial cohesion and the existing disparities that are made more serious by the economic crisis, we think that the suggestion made by the Commission is an absolute minimum, reads the above-mentioned document.

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

The signatory states think that the talks about the future multi-annual financial framework must be complete and this is why all the elements must be approached simultaneously. All the instruments of the EU budget should be approached in the same rigorous manner and if cuts are to be made in the EU budget, then no policy or budget instrument must be excepted a priori. The cohesion policy cannot be an adjustment variable, say the Ministers of European Affairs of the 12 member states mentioned before and Croatia.

In case it might be introduced, the macro-conditionality must be examined in detail and should be applied to the future pledges (not payments) after a decision made by the EU Council on violating economic rules, with a permanent correct and equitable treatment to be given to the member states, Agerpres correspondent in Brussels informs. (ActMedia, April 25, 2012)

Mergers and acquisitions to speed up in 2012

Mergers and acquisitions will speed up in Romania in 2012, and the most attractive sectors are likely to be the industry, agriculture, mining, telecommunications and media, reads a study conducted by the CMS law firm.

'It may be likely that transactions in the form of mergers and acquisitions in Romania will speed up in 2012. Probably, the most attractive sectors for acquisitions will be the industry, agriculture, energy, mining, telecommunications and media. Yet, any increase in the M& A business will very much depend on Romania's economic recovery. Unfortunately, we are facing uncertain times and we will have to wait and see to what extent the economic and political factors will impact the market this year,' CMS Co-Head Corporate Practice Romania Horea Popescu says in relation to the 2012 M&A prospects. (ActMedia, April 18, 2012)

Chinese investment worth 15M Euros

The brick factory in Constanta County (south-eastern Romania), a project worth 12-15 million Euros, is the single greenfield investment the Chinese investors are to finalize on the Romanian market, this year, said the director of the Economy Ministry's Department for Foreign Investments Sorin Vasilescu.

According to the Ziarul financiar daily, Golden Way Development BV is the Company developing the project on the brick factory, while Long Wall Brick is the Romanian-based company to develop the investment.

The Chinese investors came to Romania and started the project, two years before, when they were licensed 35,000 sq.m, to get the factory built nearby the railway road.

There are about 10,300 companies in Romania, and whose shareholders are Chinese business people, and whose share capital amounts to 390 million USD. Among such companies we mention DHS Sport bike-maker, in Deva, Rich Sport mounting scooters and motorbikes, and China Town in Afumati, on the outskirts of Bucharest, managing a commercial complex numbering 1,240 stores, an investment worth 27 million Euros, launched last summer.

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The Romanian- Chinese commercial exchanges scored 4 billon USD, last year, and about 544 million of it stand for Romania's exports to China, and the remainder for the imports from China, the commercial balance sheet being negative.

'We insist that the Chinese companies having a big export potential should see Romania as a entrance gate to Europe. Manpower is cheap in Romania, and the State grants incentives to the foreign investors,' said Vasilescu.

The spine of the Romanian-Chinese ties should mean the involvement of the Chinese business people in projects on the road infrastructure, and energy, but also in partnerships in the agriculture, food industry and IT&C, opines the general manager at the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment Radu Zaharia. (ActMedia, April 18, 2012)

Unemployment rate to drop to 7.1 percent in 2012 and to 6.5 percent in 2015

The unemployment rate will drop 0.3 percent in 2012 reaching 7.1 percent compared to 7.4 percent as it was in 2011, according to the convergence programme 2012-2015 approved by the government.

The unemployment rate will reduce over the following years to 6.9 percent in 2013, 6.7 percent in 2014 and to 6.5 percent in 2015, along with the employment to population ratio for the population between 10 and 64 years old, up to 65 percent.

There will be a 0.3 percent increase in population in terms of occupation and a 0.2 percent in terms of employment.

The occupied population will increase especially based on the higher number of employed between 2013 and 2015. Workforce productivity will increase following the faster growth of the gross domestic product compared to the increase in the occupied population. The compensation of employees will grow, but the percentage of compensation of employees in the gross output will drop from 45.5 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2015.

The convergence programme is annually revised in Bucharest and later sent to Brussels to be approved, after the Romanian government approves it. (ActMedia, April 23, 2012)

FAO Agriculture Ministers to meet in Romania in 2014

The 29th meeting of European Regional Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the 38th Session of the European Commission on Agriculture will be held in Romania in 2014. The decision was taken in Baku following the 28th FAO European Regional Conference.

Turkey has also applied for hosting this conference in 2016.

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Structural changes are planned to be held in FAO within two years. No changes have been made there since its establishment in 1945. The proposals were received from Estonian and Danish representatives to abolish FAO regional bodies' reporting to regional commissions.

The intention was voiced at the conference to open FAO regional office in Azerbaijan. The work is underway. This proposal was made by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. According to this proposal, the Azerbaijani agroindustrial complex is perceived at the global level seriously and its role in the global development of agriculture will increase. According to the agreement signed between the Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry and FAO, Azerbaijan will participate in financing process of ensuring food security and struggling with hunger in the world within the UN program.

These type of regional conferences are held every two years. The countries develop FAO program of actions in the region.

Special attention at the meeting of Agriculture Ministers in Baku was paid to nutrition, including the forecasts to 2050. The problem with obesity and the great number of diseases caused by malnutrition is connected with this topic.

The way of increasing grain crops in Eastern Europe and the topics related to the environmental sustainability of agriculture were also discussed.

The main purpose of the regional conference was to approve FAO work program and budget for 2012-2013 and to determine the priorities for 2014-2015 to develop the agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

The conference, taking place in Baku, attracted a record number of participants from 46 countries.

The FAO plays a leading role in the international fight against world food poverty. Serving both developed and developing countries, the FAO acts as a neutral forum where all countries meet to discuss agreements and conduct the discussions on policy. (ActMedia, April 24, 2012)

Pound trades at 5.40 lei The exchange rate of the national leu currency resulting from the quotations announced on May 1st by the banks authorized to operate on the currency market is as follows: CURRENCY SYMBOL RON 1 British pound GBP 5.4090 1 euro EUR 4.3970 1 US dollar USD 3.3240 1 gram of gold XAU 177.6435 1 SDR XDR 5.1557

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 Education and Culture

President Basescu says part of natural resource exploitation benefits should be invested in education

President Traian Basescu says he backs the idea that part of the benefits gained by exploiting the natural resources should be directly invested in education, research, development and innovation.

'The competitiveness of a region or a country largely depends on the manner the resources of those region are used. Romania is one of the countries that have both natural and human resources. It is a strategic goal for Romania to use both resources in the best possible way. For Romania, the clever use of the natural resources is a priority of the present and innovation is a priority of the present and the future too. That is why I back the idea that Romania should develop a mechanism by which part of the benefits gained by exploiting the natural resources should be directly invested in education, research, development and innovation. This mechanism is part of the answer to the question: What kind of a country do we leave the future generations?', President Basescu said in the opening of Bologna Process ministerial conference at the Palace of Parliament.

The President said there is need for more integration and convergence in Europe and pointed out Bologna Process broke new ground in this respect.

'What has been seen in the current crisis is that when a country has a cold, the other ones cough. We today pay the economic price of insufficient integration of basically fiscal policies of the past. The recently-forged fiscal pact is part of a more general solution, which means more integration, more convergence', President Basescu underscored. (ActMedia, April 27, 2012)

Ambassador of Romania visits to York and Glasgow

Embassy of Romania – London/ On 28 April 2012, HE Dr Ion Jinga, Ambassador of Romania to the Court of Saint James‟s, visited the University of York at the invitation of York Romanian Society.

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The University of York is a multicultural institution where 15.000 students are enrolled at present. A quarter of the students are foreigners, from which 44 are Romanians.

During the visit, the Ambassador met with Mr David Duncan, Registrar and Secretary, and with Mrs Hilary Layton, Director of Internationalisation and Deputy Director of External Relations. Then, he took part, as a special guest, in the Conference “Students or Immigrants?”, organized by York Romanian Society. After the conference, the Ambassador had a meeting with members of the Romanian community living in York and the surrounding areas and gave an interview to Leeds Romanian Society.

In the discussions with the university board members, various topics were tackled, such as: joint research projects with Romanian universities, tuition fees, the activity of York Romanian Society and the fifth edition of the Romanian Students, Professors and Researches Conference, to be organized by the Embassy in partnership with the University of Edinburgh.

At the “Students or Immigrants?” Conference, the Ambassador gave a speech on “Why the free movement of people in the European Union is important?”. In his lecture he spoke about migration throughout history, its impact on destination countries, the mobility of Romanian citizens within the European Union – with a special focus on Great Britain, and the advantages of free movement.

During a special ceremony, York Romanian Society awarded the Ambassador the title of „Honorary President‟. Furthermore, the title „Treasured Friend of York Romanian Society‟ was awarded to Father Stephen, orthodox British priest, and to Ms Jane Clarbour, Provost of Goodrick College, University of York.

The Conference ended with the launch of the Romanian Student Societies Forum. The Common Principles Document was signed by presidents of the Romanian Societies from the universities of York, Leeds, Hull, Oxford and Essex. The Forum will act as a

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platform of communication and cooperation between Romanian students all over the UK and will contribute also to promoting the image of Romania.

At the meeting with members of the Romanian community, a broad range of issues were discussed, such as: the access on the labour market and the restrictions to be lifted in 2014, going back to Romania after graduation and finding employment, Romania‟s image in the British media and possibilities of financing the study fees.

On this occasion, the labour and social affairs attaché of the Embassy discussed with those interested aspects related to work permits and National Insurance Number, and the head of the Consular Office offered specialized assistance.

On 29 April 2012, the Ambassador of Romania attended the event “Spring Flowers”, organized by the Romanian Orthodox Church Foundation in Glasgow and the Consular Office of Romania in Edinburgh.

The event took place at the Romanian Orthodox Church of the Presentation of our Lord in Glasgow, and started with a religious ceremony officiated by eight priests in the presence of the Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese in UK and Ireland, Ignatie Mureşeanul. It was followed by an artistic performance presented by Romanian youngsters from Scotland, together with Scottish dancers and bagpipers. The Ambassador was invited to address the audience.

After the event, the Ambassador discussed with Bishop Ignatie Mureşeanul possibilities of cooperation between the Embassy of Romania and the representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the UK, with the aim of promoting the values of the Romanian community. The Ambassador also talked with representatives of the local Diaspora, the Scottish Church and the Scottish Parliament.

Approx. 250 persons attended this event dedicated to promoting cultural and spiritual Romanian values in Scotland.

East Meets East: The Romanian New Wave in the Olympic Boroughs

23/04 - 29/06/2012 @ Romanian Cultural Institute London and Four Corners Four internationally-acclaimed Romanian filmmakers are part of an exciting project dedicated to young people from London‟s East End. It is a unique and special opportunity to learn from some of the best names in recent Romanian cinema, who will bring their contribution to the community‟s development in the Olympic boroughs.

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The project entitled „East Meets East‟ is part of the Romanian Cultural Institute‟s programme during the Cultural Olympiad 2012. It addresses to teenagers coming from disadvantaged environments and aims to offer them the chance to develop valuable skills in the process of filmmaking.

We are honoured to have on board:

· director Radu Muntean, winner of the Golden Owl Award for Best Film at the Leeds International Film Festival and numerous official selections at international festivals - Un Certain Regard Cannes, New York, Gijón etc. Selected filmography: Tuesday, After Christmas, The Paper Will Be Blue, Boogie, The Rage, Vorbitor.

· actress Anamaria Marinca, BAFTA award winner in 2005 for Channel 4's Sex Traffic and Best Actress at Palm Springs and Stockholm International Film Festival. Selected filmography: 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, Holby City, Storm, The Countess, The Last Enemy, Hotel Babylon.

· screenwriter Alexandru Baciu, Best Screenplay Prize at Hamptons International Films Festival. Selected filmography: Tuesday, After Christmas, Principles of Life, Gruber's Journey, Boogie, Vorbitor.

· editor Catalin Cristutiu, Gopo - Romanian National Film Award winner. Selected filmography: If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, Medal of Honor, The Happiest Girl in the World, California Dreamin‟.

They will all work with and help twenty selected students to learn about scriptwriting, storyboarding, sound, camera, acting, editing and post-production.

There will be three free workshops and masterclasses which will take the participants through the filmmaking process from script to screen and will encourage new skills in different aspects of filmmaking, as well as helping to build confidence, boost creativity and develop teamwork and social skills.

East Meets East is a partnership between the Romanian Cultural Institute and Four Corners Film, with support from East End Film Festival.

The event will take place throughout April, May and June, followed by a screening gala of a short film created by the participants and one making-of documentary at the East End Film festival which takes place between 3 and 8 July 2012. When: 23 April – 29 June 2012; Where: Romanian Cultural Institute London and Four Corners.

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Special screening and DVD launch of Tuesday, After Christmas

09/05/2012 @ Riverside Studios, London A great opportunity to meet director Radu Muntean

We are delighted to announce a special screening for the DVD launch of Tuesday, After Christmas, released in the UK by Second Run DVD. The event will be followed by a Q&A session with director Radu Muntean, “one of the Romanian New Wave‟s spikiest talents” (Tim Robey, The Telegraph).

Tuesday, After Christmas (Marţi, după Crăciun) is an astutely observed, deeply felt and intimately frank adult drama which chronicles the emotional fallout from a classic love triangle. Paul Hanganu loves two women: Adriana, his wife and the mother of their daughter, the woman with whom he has shared his life for the past ten years, and Raluca, the woman who has made him redefine himself. But just before Christmas he must choose between his two lives and finds himself in a difficult situation of having to leave one of the two women he loves.

Romania | 2010 | 98min | director: Radu Muntean | screenwriters: Alexandru Baciu, Radu Muntean, Razvan Radulescu | cast: Mimi Branescu, Mirela Oprisor, Maria Popistasu. In Romanian with English subtitles. The DVD can be purchased from http://www.secondrundvd.com

Director and screenwriter Radu Muntean is a central figure of the Romanian New Wave. His latest film Visiting Room (Vorbitor), directed together with Alexandru Baciu, follows the stories of some prisoners found in different penitentiaries across the country, who have found their life partner during their sentence time.

Radu has also kindly agreed to take part in a community project we are currently developing with Four Corners, entitled East Meets East. The director, together with other three leading figures of the Romanian cinema: actress Anamaria Marinca, screenwriter Alexandru Baciu and editor Catalin Cristutiu, will conduct workshops and masterclasses for 20 youngsters coming from disadvantaged backgrounds who aspire to become filmmakers.

When: 9 May 2012, 8pm Where: Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London W6 9RL Tickets: Standard - £9.50 / Concessions - £8.50 from www.riversidestudios.co.uk

Poet and broadcaster Robert Şerban debuts in London at the British Library

16/05/2012 @ The British Library, Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB

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Chaired by BBC journalist Rosie Goldsmith

We are delighted to present Romanian poet Robert Şerban at the prestigious European Literature Night – an international reading marathon for all lovers of literature, held simultaneously in 20 capital cities across Europe and Asia.

Now in its fourth year, the event at the British Library in London will play host to nine groundbreaking writers from Austria, Denmark, , Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Ranging from crime writing to literary explorations of love, from historical novels to horror, from short story mazes to concise contemporary verse, the authors selected are considered extremely relevant for their national literatures and will create a pan-European dialogue on fresh writing.

Robert Şerban is a writer, journalist and tv show host. His poetry has been translated into several languages and appeared in Of Gentle Wolves: An Anthology of Romanian Poetry by Calypso (2011). He will read a selection of poems from his latest volume, Paraphine Death, and will then engage in a dialogue with the public.

European Literature Night is a UK-based initiative involving 24 European cultural institutions (EUNIC London) as well as the European Comission Representation in the UK. The event promises an astonishing insight into European literature in translation.

When: Wednesday 16 May, 6.30 - 8.30pm

Tickets £7.50 (£5 concessions), available at http://boxoffice.bl.uk or 01937 546546.

Fairytale Images and Books

18/04 - 18/05/2012@The Romanian Cultural Institute London, 1 Belgrave Square

Join us for celebrating Romania‟s presence at the London Book Fair, with a special exhibition of book illustrations created by the Romanian Illustrators’ Club, which reaches its 7-year anniversary since they started to concoct “images that tell stories” – as was the title of their first exhibition in Bucharest in 2005.

“The Club has over 50 members, but it is not an institution; at the heart of the Club there are

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artists that enjoy talking, drinking tea and working together” – says Stela Lie, the coordinator of the Club.

At the beginning, the Club‟s exhibitions presented mainly works of art, most of them by professionals prepared to become, occasionally, illustrators. After various collaborations with ICR, CreArt, AER- Bookfest, ARCUB and books printed and edited by themselves, like fanzines, they launched Bookataria de texte şi imagini – a book for which the artists invited 39 well-known authors to write new texts that they illustrated with an exuberant creativity.

The exhibition Fairytale Images and Books, conceived by Stela Lie and Irina Dobrescu, presents for the first time almost everything the Club has created in seven years, each artist with his/her own books, plus Bookataria 1: fantastic landscapes, out- of-this-world animals, medieval and digital fairytales characters, sumptuous ballrooms, crinolines and harlequins, delicious sweets from grandmother‟s cupboard. An impressive harvest of fresh texts and images that you must not miss! The exhibition continues until 18 May, Mon - Fri 10am - 5pm. Free entrance.

Glorious new sound with dazzling Romanian pianist-composer Lucian Ban and legendary violist Mat Maneri

17 - 19/05/2012 @ "Vortex Club" London

Deco Heart, the musical pairing featuring Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri, will perform three exclusive UK shows ahead of the autumn release of their self-titled album. Working at the edge of jazz, contemporary classical and downtown NY improve, the duo present a set of jazz musings and downtown skronk, a joyously upbeat affair.

For their show at London‟s Vortex, the first of their three-night UK run, one of the giants of improvised music, special guest saxophonist , will join Deco Heart. In Derby, the show will feature the ever-inventive vibraphone player Corey Mwamba.

Born in Transylvania, Lucian Ban now resides in New York, and is a fully fledged member of the downtown scene and at the forefront of contemporary modern jazz. Described as "one of the most gifted pianists to move to New York in the past decade" and cited as “playing with a sensibility and fluency that recalls Vladimir Horowitz as much as McCoy Tyner”, Ban has twice been nominated as Best European Jazz Musician in the prestigious Hans Koller Awards.

Yet it is through his Enescu Re-Imagined project that Ban made his mark in the UK, and first collaborated with Mat Maneri uncovering a unique musical rapport. The show was performed at

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London Jazz Festival, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. It was, suggested the Guardian, “a rare combination of uninhibited but coherent solo and collective improv, shrewd arrangement and dazzling thematic writing”.

Classically trained, Mat Maneri has been charged with the accolade of “changing the way the jazz world listens to violin and viola”. The freewheeling scope of his musical imagination has led Maneri to become the go-to guy from artists such as paul Bley, Cecil Taylor and , John Medeski, Michael Formanek, Tim Berne as well as leading several of his own critically acclaimed ensembles.

Programme: Thu May 17, Vortex Jazz Club, 8.30pm 11 Gillett Street, London, N16. Tickets: £12 | 020 7254 4097 | www.vortexjazz.co.uk Presented in partnership with Jazz North East Fri May 18, Literary & Philosophical Library, 8pm 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle NE1 1SE Tickets: £ 10 (£ 8 concessions) | 0191 232 0192 Presented in partnership with Derby Jazz Sat May 19th, Voicebox Arts Centre, 6:30pm Forman Street, Derby DE1 1JQ Tickets: www.voiceboxuk.com

Enescu presented at the Newbury Festival by the Văcărescu – Tsunakawa Duo

25/05/2012 @ Corn Exchange Recital Hall, Newbury

Horia Văcărescu and Chiho Tsunakawa will perform an uplifting programme at the Newbury Festival, which includes masterpieces by Brahms, Debussy, Enescu, Schubert and de Falla.

The violin-piano duo was formed at the beginning of 2010, while the two musicians were studying at the Royal College of Music in London. The duo has already had many successes and built a solid reputation internationally. In the UK, it made appearances at major venues, reaching as far as Wales and Scotland. The two musicians also toured Japan and Romania, and their performance at the Great Hall of the Bucharest Athenaeum was received to standing ovations.

The Romanian violinist Horia Văcărescu brings something new to the musical scene. Combining a high mastery of the instrument that evokes a past era with an intense and emotional approach, his performances are a delight. The distinguished musician Rivka Golani has described him as "a great talent".

A remarkable young pianist, Chiho Tsunakawa was born in Japan and studied piano from the age of 3. Tsunakawa has given solo performances on NHK Radio in Japan and her Schubert's Trout Quintet performance at the Wigmore Hall was broadcast on radio in London. She has been a prizewinner over 25 times in competitions.

When: Friday 25th May, 12.30pm (finishes approx 1.30pm) Where: Corn Exchange, Newbury Tickets: £8.00-£32.00

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Alexandra Dăriescu premiers Lipatti’s “Concertino” with the Orchestra of St Paul's

26/05/2012 @ LSO St Luke's, 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NG

Alexandra Dăriescu, the exceptionally talented and accomplished young pianist, joins the Orchestra of Saint Paul's at LSO St Luke‟s with a programme of classical and Romanian timeless pieces: Beethoven‟s Emperor concerto, the charming Concertino in the Classical Style by Dinu Lipatti (UK premiere), Romanian Folk Dances by Bartók and Jupiter Symphony by Mozart.

Under the baton of conductor Ben Palmer, acclaimed for his innovative programming, the Orchestra of Saint Paul's (OSP) resident in Covent Garden has developed a reputation for imaginative and stylish performances. In addition to a thriving concert series in its home venue, OSP makes annual visits to the Southbank Centre's Purcell Room and St John's, Smith Square. OSP is unique among modern instrument chamber orchestras in playing music of the baroque, classical and even romantic periods entirely without vibrato.

Featured as BBC Music Magazine‟s Rising Star in June 2011, Alexandra Dariescu has taken London's most exquisite classical music circuit by storm, thanks to her impeccable technique and stunning charisma. Selected by Young Classical Artists Trust in 2008, Alexandra was a Laureate at the Verbier Festival Academy where she won the CUBS Bank Verbier Festival & Academy Prize. She went on to win the Guildhall Wigmore Hall Prize and the Romanian Ambassador„s prize for her outstanding contribution to promoting Romania‟s image in the UK.

Highlights in Alexandra‟s 2011/2012 season include her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York, performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, Grieg piano concerto at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, Shostakovich piano concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra of St Paul‟s at the Southbank Centre in London and Rachmaninov piano concerto No. 2 with York Symphony Orchestra.

When: 26 May 2012 :19:30 Where: LSO St Luke‟s, 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NG Tickets: £12 £16 £20 (20% student discount) or on Barbican Centre website

After the New Man: Photographic Exhibition by Dana Popa

26/04 - 26/05/2012@Foto8, 1-5 Honduras Street, London EC1Y 0TH

Fascinated with her homeland, photographer Dana Popa returns to Romania and looks at the generation born here just before or after the fall of the Communist regime. After the New Man is an intimate portrayal of a society that is slowly healing, of youth and fleeting memories of a

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Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______bygone era that still permeates the selves and the landscapes. The exhibition is organised in association with Foto8 Gallery.

Traces of Popa‟s own childhood pervade not only through the blocks of flats and through the cars from another era, but in the mindsets of old and young. This legacy of the recent past and the ubiquitous Western-inspired ideals of lifestyle and consumerism construct a portrait of a displaced generation, struggling to reconcile their place in history.

The exhibition brings together Popa‟s own socially engaged work with her old family photographs and remnants from the past.

Dana Popa (b. 1977) studied a Masters degree in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. Her work focuses on contemporary social issues with a particular emphasis on human rights. „Not Natasha‟ was Popa‟s first major body of work, which looked at the effects of sex trafficking on girls and families in The Republic of Moldova who had firsthand experience of it. The project has been exhibited around the UK, Europe and US and was published as a book (Autograph ABP, 2009). Popa is based in London.

Related Events Artist‟s talk with Dana Popa - Tuesday 1 May, 6.30pm. The exhibition continues until 26 May 2012. Opening hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm; Sat 11am - 4pm.

Bucharest Calling! Ioana Paun presents new work in London 05/03 - 06/07/2012@Theatre Royal Stratford East

Our former artist-in-residence, theatre director and performance artist Ioana Păun, will work across all areas within the Theatre Royal Stratford East, being inspired by the theatre's life, its artists and its community. She will create new work to be presented in June 2012.

Ioana Păun, born in 1984, is a theatre director and performance artist based in Bucharest and a member of the réaltympanica site-specific collective and Romanian based tangaProject theatre group. She graduated from the MA programme at Goldsmiths College in London and UNATC in Bucharest. Ioana's latest work is revolving around public space and social dynamics that she explores and represents using

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everyday culture resources: trenSformers (creative interventions in Romanian trains, documenting regional perceptions), X Street (a headphone live art piece where the audience, driven in a minibus through the London 2012 Olympics neighbourhood, penetrate private places through sound) or L-V:8-16 (a show based on the collective experiences of her generation from the „90s onward). She is also interested in teenage culture in Romania and is currently devising two high school projects with other Romanian young artists. She is also working with réaltympanica on a video live streaming project, creating site specific reconstructions of different European realities in a foreign country. The project has a pilot phase in Pécs, Hungary, during Europe Mania Festival.

Norman Manea: Royal Society of Literature Fellowship Ceremony and Book Launch

31/05/2012 @ Romanian Cultural Institute London, 1 Belgrave Square

“Norman Manea is a superb writer who gives an extraordinary testimony of a rich and dramatic life under one of the most grotesque and ferocious dictatorships and, later, in a peripatetic exile full of adventures, he writes about all of it without bitterness or resentment, and with great liberty of spirit, fantasy, and even humour.”

Mario Vargas Llosa

The Royal Society of Literature, Yale University Press and the Romanian Cultural Institute are proud to present Norman Manea‟s RSL Fellowship ceremony, hosted by Colin Thubron (President of the RSL) and Anne Chisholm (Chair of the RSL), followed by a book launch and reading by the author from his latest novels The Lair and The Fifth Impossibility: Essays on Exile and Language published by YUP. The books explore the language and psyche of the exiled writer, conveying a profound perspective on our troubled society.

Norman Manea is a major Romanian contemporary novelist and essayist, whose distinguished international reputation has seen him ranked as a potential candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He first published in Communist Romania in the 1960s, producing a string of socially critical works that led to his departure in 1986. He now lives in New York. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages. He is also the recipient of world famous literary prizes, including the MacArthur Award (U.S.), the Nonino Prize (Italy), the Prix Médicis Étranger (France), the Nelly Sachs Prize (Germany). He is a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and was honoured by the French government with the title Commandeur de l‟Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Admission free but booking essential at: [email protected] | 0207 752 0134.

When: Thursday 31 May, 7 - 9pm

Arundel House, 4 Palace Green London W8 4QD UK Phone: 0044 (0)20 7937 9666 Fax: 0044 (0)20 7937 8069 e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.london.mae.ro

Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

The Body Adorned: Folk Romanian Costume, Inspired by Queen Maria’s Style

24/03/2012 - 06/01/2013@Horniman Museum and Gardens, 100 London Road SE23 3PQ

One of the attractions of the The Body Adorned: Dressing London Exhibition at the Horniman Museum is a superb Romanian traditional costume, with a lavish pattern favoured by the rich peasant families at the beginning of the 20th century. The Queen Maria of Romania herself used to wear similar costumes at some public events, as a sign of her attachment to her adopted country. The Horniman Museum has an outstandingly rich collection of about 800 Romanian costumes, objects and archive photos, which will form the basis of another exhibition in 2014.

The Body Adorned: Dressing London exhibition reveals how a diverse population clothe and adorn their bodies to find their place in the metropolis. Over time, saris, tattoo parlours, nail bars, distended ears and scarification have become a visible, everyday part of the London cityscape. But how did cultural adornments become integrated into urban London life? The exhibition considers how the movement of people, objects and ideas influenced London dress in the past and explores body adornment in today‟s world city of London.

In April 2012, the Horniman Museum will launch a display of Easter Decorated Eggs in the Balcony Gallery, part of the Object in Focus Series. The special temporary display will be accompanied by two sessions of craftswoman-led workshops on Painted Eggs.

When: 24 March 2012-06 January 2013 Where: Temporary Exhibition Space, Horniman Museum. Free entry.

Since 2005 the festival has been held under the High Patronage of their Royal Highnesses Princess Margareta and Prince Radu. (ActMedia, March 30, 2012)

LEARN ROMANIAN IN ROMANIA Romanian Language, Culture and Civilization Braşov, Romania - 18th edition, July 3rd – 28th, 2012 Program Coordinator: Ana Borca: [email protected] (4) 0317 100 672; Fax: (4) 021.230.13.73 Director of the Domestic Programmes Department Oana-Valentina Suciu: [email protected] Phone: + 40 31 71 00616, Fax: + 40 31 71 00606 THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE Domestic Programs Department 38, Aleea Alexandru 011824, Sector 1 – Bucharest http://www.icr.ro/cursuri_brasov

Arundel House, 4 Palace Green London W8 4QD UK Phone: 0044 (0)20 7937 9666 Fax: 0044 (0)20 7937 8069 e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.london.mae.ro

Embassy of Romania in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ______

European Film Festival, in May, in Bucharest

The Sixteenth edition of the European Film Festival (EFF) will be held from 4 to 13 May, in Bucharest, and until May 27 in some other four cities - Brasov, Timisoara, Targu Mures and Iasi, film director Catalin Mitulescu being this year the Honorary Ambassador who will sign the spot of this event.

According to a press release, the festival, organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute with support from embassies and cultural centers of European countries, will be held this year in Bucharest (May 4 to 13), Brasov (May 10 to 13), Timisoara ( May 17 to 20), Targu Mures (May 17 to 20) and Iasi (May 24 to 27).

In Bucharest, more than 50 films from 26 countries can be seen at two cinema theaters: Cinema Studio and Cinemateca Eforie.

The festival kicks off on May 2, with a concert by Toulouse Lautrec band, at Carturesti - Verona Garden. On May 12, at the ArCuB Hall, Tarkovsky Redux Concert by Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri, Silent Strike and Dan Basu, a fusion of live music and live film screenings, will mark the end of this edition of Bucharest festival.

Lucian Ban, a New York pianist and composer of Romanian origin, is considered 'one of the most talented and original pianists of New York in the last decade'. He is the Elevation band leader, including famous musicians. He composed music for over 20 theatrical productions, for film and ballet and also for Symphony Orchestra, the MINUS Theatre / Dance Company and the original score for 'Philosopher Fox' theater play, by Slawomir Mrozek, produced by the East River.

Mat Maneri was nominated in 2006 to the Grammy Awards for the best alternative music album. He works closely with bass players Ed Schuller, Mark Dresser, William Parker, Michael Formanek, Barre Phillips and John Lockwood. Always open to innovation, Matt has also worked with Joe Morris, John Medeski, Tim Berne, Cecil McBee, T.K. Ramakrishnan, Franz Kogelman, Roy Campbell, Spring Heel Jack, Draze Hoops and has a remix in Illy B Eats collection.

Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri have collaborated, among others, for the Enesco Re-Imagined project. Launched in autumn 2010, Enesco Re-Imagined album by Lucian Ban & John Hebert (Sunnyside Records) has enjoyed a great international success.

Silent Strike is a composer of electronic music and sound designer, together with Dan Basu laying the foundation for Silent Bass project, in which music and video are completing each other. (ActMedia, April 17, 2012)

Arundel House, 4 Palace Green London W8 4QD UK Phone: 0044 (0)20 7937 9666 Fax: 0044 (0)20 7937 8069 e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.london.mae.ro