Quirky World: Map mix-up embarrasses Romanian minister

ROMANIA: Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu has apologised to his visiting German counterpart for handing him a booklet during a televised news conference that mixed up a map of Germany with one of France on the cover.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a one-day visit to Romania to hold talks on bilateral relations, Nato, east Ukraine and to mark 135 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“Due to a regrettable technical error, exclusively on the cover of the booklet, the border of the maps of Romania and France — with the latter being covered by the German flag — was printed,” the ministry said in a statement.