Bucharest’s most important strategic partnership, the one with Washington, has direct benefits for Romania’s national interest. The statement was made on Friday by the State Secretary with the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Bogdan Aurescu, during an address given at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj (north-western Romania). He said the political, military and security fields are ”areas of excellence in the Romanian-American relationship”. Aurescu, who is also Bucharest’s chief negotiator in the American anti-missile project in Europe, added that the US Congress earmarked 235 million dollars for the start of works this year at the military base in southern Romania where some elements of the system will be located.

A large-scale cultural event devoted to Nichita Stănescu, one of the most highly appreciated post-war Romanian poets, will begin in Berlin next week, the Romanian Cultural Institute in the German capital announced. The event, scheduled to start on April 5th, will include a photo exhibition, readings from Nichita Stanescu’s poetry translated into several languages, including German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew, and a classical music concert. Nichita Stanescu, born in 1933, passed away in 1983. He won prestigious awards, including the Herder Award, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is a post-mortem member of the Romanian Academy.

Tens of thousands of North-Korean troops and civilians Friday marched downtown Pyongyang to demonstrate their full support for a prospective military strike against the USA. Previously, the North-Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, put rocket units on stand-by for attacking US Pacific and mainland military bases. The measure came in response to the US using nuclear-capable stealth bombers during the recent military exercises in South Korea.