About Romania

GEOGRAPHY, METEOROLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Romania is situated in geographical center of Europe (south-east of Central Europe) at north of Balkan Peninsula at the half of distance between Atlantic Coast and The Urals, inside and outside the Carpathians Arch, on the Danube (1075 km) lower course and has exit to the Black Sea.

Romania is the twelfth country of Europe, having an area of 238391 km2. The exit to the sea enables the connections with the countries in the Black Sea basin, in the Mediterranean Sea basin and, by means of this, rest of the world. Romanian seaside of the Black Sea is lying on 245 km, between Musura stream (at the border with Ukraine) and Vama Veche locality (at the border with Bulgaria).

Main features of relief units are proportionality (31% mountains, 36% hills and plateaus, 33% plains and meadows) and concentric display of the relief major levels.

Romanian running waters are radially displayed, most of them having the springs in the Carpathians. Their main collector is the Danube river, which crosses the country in the south on 1075 km length and flows into the Black Sea.

The lakes are represented by natural lakes (numerous genetic types) spread in all major units of relief, from glacial ones in the alpine floor (Mioarelor Lake - Fagaras 2282 m) to river-maritime banks (Techirghiol Lake at 1.5 m) and entropic lakes, as well in all relief units.

Romanian territory is divided from administrative viewpoint into: villages, communes, towns, municipalities and counties.

Main cities: Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Timisoara, Craiova, Galati, Brasov, Ploiesti, Braila, Oradea, Bacau , Pitesti, Arad, Sibiu.

Main airports: Bucharest (“Henri Coanda”-Otopeni and Baneasa), Constanta (“Mihail Kogalniceanu“), Timisoara (“Traian Vuia”), Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Arad, Oradea, Baia Mare, Targu Mures, Suceava, Bacau, Deva, Sibiu, Craiova, Tulcea.

Government form in Romania is the republic:

– Republic, according to the Constitution adopted in 1991 and modified in 2003;

– Legislative power is represented by two chamber Parliament (Chamber of Deputies and Senate), and executive power is carried out by Government led by Prime Minister appointed by the country’s President;

– President of the country is elected based on general elections results by universal vote for a 5 years mandate.

National currency: "RON" (Romanian Leu), “Ban“ subdivision. The exchange rate is set on the interbank currency market on a daily basis, reference currency being euro.

Romania, according to all the studies, is the third country in Europe regarding the growth of the economy. Eurostat confirmed in march 2009 that the economy of Romania grow up in the last quarter of last year by 2.9 % compared to the same period of 2007,  level that places Romania on the third place in EU, next to Ciprus.

The European statistics office revised the gross domestic product in EU and conclusioned that it decreased by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to 2007.