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Romania: GEOGRAPHY
Location: Romania is located in southeastern Europe; Ukraine lies to the north and east, Moldova to the northeast, Hungary to the northwest, Serbia and Montenegro to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, and the Black Sea to the southeast.
Size: Romania’s total area is 237,500 square kilometers, 7,160 square kilometers of which is water.
Land Boundaries: Romania shares land boundaries with the following nations: Bulgaria (608 kilometers), Hungary (443 kilometers), Moldova (450 kilometers), Serbia and Montenegro (476 kilometers), and Ukraine (431 kilometers).
Disputed Territory: Romania and Ukraine continue to negotiate conflicting claims to the Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy Island (known in Romania as Insula Serpilor) as well as the shared Black Sea maritime boundary.
Length of Coastline: Romania’s coastline along the Black Sea is 225 kilometers long.
Maritime Claims: Romania claims a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles, a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles, an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles, and a continental shelf of 200 meters (or to the depth of exploitation).
Topography: Romania’s topography is almost evenly divided among mountains, hills, and plains. These varied forms spread rather symmetrically from the Carpathian Mountains in the north, which reach elevations of more than 2,400 meters, to the Danube Delta in the southeast, which is just a few meters above sea level.
Principal Rivers: The Danube is Romania’s major waterway. After entering the country in the southwest at Bazias, the Danube travels some 1,000 kilometers through or along Romanian territory, forming the southern frontier with Serbia and Montenegro and Bulgaria. One of Europe's largest hydroelectric stations is located at the Iron Gate, where the Danube surges through the Carpathian gorges. Virtually all of the country's rivers are tributaries of the Danube, either directly or indirectly, and by the time the Danube's course ends in the Black Sea, they account for nearly 40 percent of the total discharge. The most important of these rivers are the Mures, Olt, Prut, Siret, Ialomita, Somes, and Arge. Romania's rivers flow primarily east, west, and south from the central crown of the Carpathians. They are fed by rainfall and melting snow, which causes considerable fluctuation in discharge and occasionally catastrophic flooding. In the east, river waters are collected by the Siret and Prut. In the south, the rivers flow directly into the Danube. In the west, waters are collected by the Tisza on Hungarian territory.
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Climate: Because of its position on the southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a climate that is transitional between temperate and continental. In the extreme southeast, Mediterranean influences offer a milder, maritime climate. The average annual temperature is 11° C in the south and 8° C in the north. In Bucharest, the temperature ranges from –29° C in January to 29° C in July, with average temperatures of –3° C in January and 23° C in July. Rainfall, although adequate throughout the country, decreases from west to east and from mountains to plains. Some mountainous areas receive more than 1,010 millimeters of precipitation each year.
Natural Resources: Romania possesses declining reserves of petroleum and natural gas in modest supply, timber, coal, iron ore, and salt as well as arable land and hydropower resources.
Land Use: According to the Romanian government, arable areas represent 39.2 percent of land; forests, 28 percent; pastures and hayfields, 20.5 percent; vineyards and orchards, 2.3 percent; buildings, roads and railroads, 4.5 percent; waters and ponds, 3.7 percent; and other areas, 1.8 percent.
Environmental Factors: Romania’s past focus on heavy industry has saddled it with a legacy of industrial pollution, and pollution presents a serious threat to Romania’s environment. Under Ceauşescu, Romania’s Environmental Law of 1973 was never fully enforced, and Romania did not update its environmental regulations until 1995, when it passed the Law on Environmental Protection, making it one of the last countries in Eastern Europe to do so. According to Western observers, toxic air emissions present the most significant environmental hazard in Romania. Industrial waste pollution in waterways is also significant. In January 2000, a major cyanide spill in Romania’s mining region flooded the Danube River with toxic waste; the contamination killed fish and polluted drinking water in Romania, Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria before dissipating in the Black Sea. Approximately 18 percent of Romania’s water is too polluted even for industrial use. Economic difficulties and political constraints have prevented widespread reform of heavy industry, especially mining, and kept environmental protections generally weak.
Time Zone: Romania is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Unison.ie,Fine Gael is calling on the government to come clean about whether it plans to restrict immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the two countries join the ... Liberal MP Patriciu Would Opt For Alliance With Romania’s Major ... - 24 Oct 2006 Mediafax,Liberal Dinu Patriciu, CEO of Romania''s second-largest oil company Rompetrol Group NV, said Monday evening during a TV show he would sponsor Romania’s major ... Helicopter Crashes in Romania, 3 Missing - 24 Oct 2006 Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: A military helicopter has crashed in a lake in Romania with the three people on board missing. The aircraft was on a training ... Military helicopter crashes in Romania - 24 Oct 2006 International Herald Tribune,BUCHAREST, Romania A military helicopter crashed Tuesday into a lake in southern Romania, and its three crew members were missing, the Defense Ministry said. ... Road accident leaves 8 dead, 3 injured in western Romania - 24 Oct 2006 International Herald Tribune,AP. BUCHAREST, Romania A bus smashed into a tractor on a road in western Romania, leaving eight people dead and three injured, police said Tuesday. ... Orange Romania launches PrePay service - 24 Oct 2006 Telecom Paper (subscription),Orange Romania has launched the Orange PrePay service. Between 23 October and 31 December, users can call any national network and ... Railway Industry in Romania: Softronic Craiova modernises electric ... - 24 Oct 2006 Railway Market Magazine,Softronic Craiova performed for the first time the modernisation of an electric locomotive with Romanian equipment. The modernisation ... Railway Industry in Romania: Noone interested in the assets of SC ... - 24 Oct 2006 Railway Market Magazine,The Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS), which is responsible for privatising state assets, will have to decrease the selling price of of SC Nicolina SA ... Romania's TROOPER To Launch New Album Next Week - Oct. 23, 2006 - 24 Oct 2006 Blabbermouth.net,TROOPER, one of the top heavy metal band in Romania, will launch its fourth studio album, "Electric", on November 3 at Old School Club in Bucharest. ... Rescue workers from NATO countries, Russia team up for anti-terror ... - 24 Oct 2006 International Herald Tribune,...north of Rome, were designed to improve coordination between rescue services of the six participating countries: Italy, Russia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and ... UK closes door on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants - 24 Oct 2006 Times Online,Britain has decided to close the door on a new influx of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, imposing strict conditions on their eligibility for work permits ... National Bucharest's coach Duna steps down for poor results - 24 Oct 2006 People's Daily Online,Marin Duna, the coach of Romanian soccer club National Bucharest, lost job on Monday after a string of poor results. Duna became ... European Parliament Adopts Report on Appointing Resident Employees ... - 24 Oct 2006 Focus News,Mr Giuseppe Gargani regarding the proposal of the EC for a set of regulations for the appointing of resident employees from Bulgaria and Romania in relation to ... Race Between An Airplane And A Motorcycle In Central Romania - Oct 23, 2006 Mediafax,An ultra light airplane and a motorcycle raced Sunday on the Cluj-Napoca airport, in central Romania. The ultra light plane (550 ... Metro in Romania: EIB grants loans for Metrorex - Oct 23, 2006 Railway Market Magazine,EIB activity in Romania intensified with the announcement of the provision of a EUR 60m loan to Bucharest metro company Metrorex. ... Romania’s Former PM Faces New Count In Zambaccian File - Oct 23, 2006 Mediafax,Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase Monday went to the National Anticorruption Department, or DNA, as he is under investigation on a new count disjoined from ... US deepening military ties with Romania - Oct 23, 2006 United Press InternationalBUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The United States is rapidly increasing its military presence in Romania. United States Air ... Porsche Romania sees sales up to 658m euros - Oct 22, 2006 Ziarul Financiar,Porsche Romania, the local importer of Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands, is to sell 40,000 units this year, 22% more than last year, company ... Eurocontrol Announces Signing of MOU with Romania's Rompetrol ... - Oct 23, 2006 CCNMatthews (press release),...of innovative authentication and verification technologies today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Romania's Rompetrol Group. ... CIA rendition flights unsettle Romania - Oct 23, 2006 United Press InternationalBUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 23 ... authorities. Fava singled out the potential use by the CIA of Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase. ... No Plans to Block Workers from Bulgaria and Romania - Oct 23, 2006 SR International - Radio Sweden,Sweden has it has no plans to introduce restrictions on migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania when those two countries join the EU next year. ... This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant. |
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