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Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy 2023 to start in Bucharest
The Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy (RADR 2023) starts today in Bucharest themed "A firm foreign policy of Romania: managing challenges and maximising opportunities."
President Klaus Iohannis is scheduled today to welcome heads of Romanian diplomatic missions, consular offices, and directors of Romanian cultural institutes and give a speech.
Also attending will be Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
Attendance this year is in person, after the previous three editions took place virtually.
The event, organised according to tradition near the Day of Romanian Diplomacy - marked annually on September 1 - and hosted by Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu, brings together the heads of diplomatic missions, consular offices, as well as directors of Romania's cultural institutes from abroad, alongside high-ranking Romanian state officials and members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Romania.
Also invited are prestigious leaders of the academe and think tanks, non-governmental organisations and the mass media. Odobescu's special guests will be her counterparts from Chile, Alberto van Klaveren Stork, and Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis.
"The main theme of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy in 2023 is focused on the reaffirmation of Romania's foreign policy priorities, by managing challenges and in the perspective of capitalising on the opportunities generated by the current international environment. Amidst the ongoing war of aggression waged by Russia in Ukraine, it is obvious the centrality of security stakes, as well as the need to intensify diplomatic dialogue and related socio-economic efforts in order to strengthen the security architecture and the rules-based international order in a wider framework of joint efforts of the community of democracies," says the Foreign Ministry (MAE).
The Romanian diplomats and their special guests will touch on guidelines for diplomatic action appropriate for the multiple overlapping challenges and crises, often interconnected, that the international community is facing. Coming up with firm answers, in the spirit of the solid values and principles in which Romania is anchored, contributes to the consolidation of its role as a security provider in the region and to its relevance as a credible, resilient partner, part of the European and Euro-Atlantic community.
"Thus, the plenary session to be attended by Chile's minister of foreign affairs will address the importance of global partnerships in managing common challenges, with the title of the session being: 'Consolidating a strong democratic community: maintaining the rules-based international order and deepening global partnerships with like-minded partners.' Amidst the most serious security challenge on NATO's eastern flank, security, cohesion and connectivity is the subject of the second plenary session, called 'From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea: increasing security and connectivity.' The special guest of at this session is the minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania."
On the sidelines of RADR 2023, there will also be working sessions that will provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions between Odobescu and the MAE leadership and heads of missions to identify the lines of diplomatic approach adjusted for the specifics of geographical spaces and international institutions in which they represent the interests of Romania.
Another plenary session will focus on optimising and increasing the quality of consular services to the benefit of Romanian citizens abroad.
The Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy is traditionally organized every year close to the Day of Romanian Diplomacy - which, starting from 2005, is marked on September 1.
An assessment of the activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the last year as well as an analysis of the international challenges that Romania must face in the future are made. Also, the meeting allows the identification of effective ways to achieve the pursued priority objectives amid global, transatlantic, European and regional developments. The debates are equally designed to identify opportunities that have to be seized, and to draw the main guidelines for the action of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian diplomatic service in the short, medium and long term.
