The student team of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University has won the great trophy of IMAGE CUP 2009

It happened in July, so it's not a novelty anymore. But still it's an important information. And it should be promoted more. Iasi is a very important center on the IT world map.

Sytech Team, comprised of Adrian Buzgar, Calin Juravle and Andreas Resios – master students at the Computer Science Faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University has won yesterday the great trophy of IMAGE CUP STUDENT COMPETITION 2009, held in Cairo – Egypt.

Cosmin Ilie, Economics student at our university has also won the first place in the IT Challenge section.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University has also been represented by Cristina Despa and Ionut Cârjă, students at Computer Science Faculty and Design section competitors, and Valy Greavu, teacher at the Economics and Business Administration Faculty, as judge of the competition.

More on the UAIC website.

EU recognized Moldova's European integration aspirations

The 11th meeting of the Moldova-EU cooperation council was held in Brussels on 21 December.

For the first time ever in Moldova's history, the participants in the meeting adopted a joint statement.

In the joint statement, the EU recognized Moldova's European integration aspirations.

The parties agreed to continue their efforts to bring the Republic of Moldova closer to the EU, acknowledging Moldova's European aspirations.
They confirmed that negotiations on an EU-Moldova Association Agreement will be launched in Chisinau on 12 January 2010. 

At the same time, they agreed to strive to set up in 2010 a dialogue examining the conditions for visa-free travel of Moldovan citizens to the EU as a long-term goal, taking into account the EU Global Approach to Migration and keeping in mind that gradual steps towards full visa liberalisation would be taken provided that conditions for well-managed and secure mobility were in place.

Also the statement mentioned the launch of negotiations and specific steps to create a free trade zone. 

SOS Rosia Montana

Apparently there is no connection between Iasi in the Eastern part of Romania and Rosia Montana in the Western part of Romania.

But this is a serious issue and it's necessary that all the people that live in Romania or have any specific interest in Romania to stand together against the destruction caused by the proposed exploitation project in Rosia Montana.

Arguments for stopping the Gold Corporation of Rosia Montana project:

- It is bad for the long-term economical perspectives of the region.
- It will destroy the natural capital of the area.
- It violates several EU Directives concerning the environment and human rights.
- Destruction of archaeological remains of such value would be a cultural crime.



If you want to show your support for Rosia Montana you are invited to join the Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Rosia.Montana

You can also sign a petition. The petition is only in Romanian for now: http://bit.ly/4B3sXH
Soon it will be translated into English.

UAIC - Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi. Tools for Alumni to stay in touch

The "Alexandru Ioan Cuza University" of Iasi is one of the most important universities in Romania.
The University of Iaşi, as it was named at first, is the first modern university in Romania, founded one year after the establishment of the Romanian state, by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former "Academia Mihaileana" was converted to a university. from Wikipedia

Each ear there are thousands of valuable people who graduate this University. The Alumni of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University could become one of the most interesting professional network in Romania. Unfortunately this is not the case now.

The social networking sites offer some opportunities for UAIC Alumni to get in touch with eachother. But the number of those who participate is still quite low.

There is a Facebook page for UAIC with more than 600 fans:
http://www.facebook.com/Iasi.UAIC

And there is also a Linkedin Group with more than 500 members:
Linkedin Group

Fell free to join any of these and also invite your friends.

Iasi Linkedin - thousands of opportunities

Linkedin is the leading professional network in the world. It offers countless opportunities to connect with professionals that share your interests.

Right now there are about 9.000 people on Linkedin that have any mention of Iasi in their profile: http://bit.ly/search-iasi

Linkedin does not allow you to contact these people directly unless you are members of the same group. This is why I created the group IASI on Linkedin. It has now over 1.000 members: http://bit.ly/Iasi-Link. If you will join this group you will be able to send messages to any of these 1.000 people interested in Iasi.

So feel free to join the group (if you haven't already) and also to promote it to your connections.

Owner of ERA park in Iasi has its accounts frozen

Ermes Holding, held by Cypriot group Omilos, owner of ERA Shopping City retail park in Iasi, has had access to its bank deposits blocked due to a 250,000 Euro debt, according to ZF.


The sales decline and difficulties in collecting rent are causing increasingly more conflicts between shopping center owners and banks, retailers, and even construction companies, which materialize in insolvency filings and frozen accounts, as is the case of the ERA project in Iasi.