Calendar of events for the week-end October 8-10 in Bucharest

Nelly Miricioiu is a Romanian opera singer and one of the most remarkable sopranos. She was highly acclaimed in the roles of different bel canto characters.

The toxic spill from the ecological accident in Hungary earlier this week has already started to affect the ecosystem of the main branch of the Danube river, with the first dead fish already found in the river, according to Tibor Dobson, the regional head of the Disaster Prevention service, quoted by AFP. “I can confirm we have seen sporadic fish loss on the main branch of the Danube,” said Dobson.

Multinational companies are interested in relocating their production activity from Romania to the Republic of Moldova to take advantage of the lower workforce and operations costs, according to the Moldavian Economy Minister Valeriu Lazar.

Dutch confectionery ingredients producer Zeelandia has recently opened a factory in Iasi, the first phase of a EUR 10 million larger project. The company has so far invested EUR 3 million in this project. It bought a 22,000 sqm land in Miroslava, near Iasi, in 2006. The factory covers 2,000 sqm and new production warehouses will be added, as well as an administrative building, in the later phases of the project.

A new International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission which will review Romania's economic performances will come to Bucharest on October 20 and stay until the beginning of November, according to Mihai Tanasescu, Romania's representative to the IMF, quoted by Agerpres.

The recent toxic spill in Hungary, which threatens to spread along the Danube river and endanger ecosystems, has triggered worries about Romania's own sledge beds, some of which have yet to be properly taken care of after the end of industrial activities in certain areas of the country. There are 17 such toxic residues deposits in Romania, according to local newspaper Ziarul Financiar, the biggest of these sludge bed being owned by Minvest Deva, with 290 hectares in total in Hunedoara, Harghita, Alba and Cluj.

Octogon Gas & Logistics received a EUR 9.4 million financing from Banca Transilvania to build the largest Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) marine terminal in the Midia – Navodari harbor. The terminal was scheduled to officially open on Thursday, October 7. The project took around a year to be completed.

Romania needs to regain the trust of foreign investors and avoid a third year of economic crisis in the country, said Mariana Gheorghe, Petrom CEO and head of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) in Romania. The council has launched a 80-measure plan to send Romania back on the economic revival path. The council estimates such measures could allow the country grow its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 11.6 percent, should these measures be applied by 2015.

Movies on screens in Bucharest during the period October 8-14 2010

The local retail market was down 12 percent in the first half of the year, according to Nielsen Romania. The drop was higher – 15 percent - excluding the sales of discount stores. Traditional trade was the most affected, but still covered the bulk of the market in Romania, although hypermarkets and discounters have gained more ground in the meantime.

Romania plans to support young investors who will start a business by offering them state guarantees, as well as exemptions from social security payment and a state aid of 20 percent of the value of their projects, up to EUR 10,000. The Romanian Government has put up for public debate the ordinance project and plans to enact it later on.