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The Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy will take place September 7-9 in a virtual format, with one of its topics being lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu.
"Next week, between September 7 and 9, the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy will take place. This year's edition will normally be dedicated, as natural, to the assessment of the activity of last year, and especially to the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, we will organize a virtual meeting, adjusted for new circumstances, including and foreshadowing current and future operational transformations, both in terms of institutional activity and services for citizens."
In his message, the head of Romanian diplomacy talks about the activity of Romanian diplomats and consuls and praised them for "the steps they take every day and the concrete contribution to achieving the major objectives of Romania's foreign policy: strengthening Romania's role and profile in the European Union and NATO, furthering and deepening the strategic partnership with the US, promoting effective multilateralism, as well as democratic values and international law."
At the same time, Aurescu talks about the efforts of the ministry amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This year, the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has represented and represents a significant challenge for diplomatic activity - both in the central offices of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the foreign service. Protecting the rights of Romanian citizens to facilitate their return to the country safely and securely and to the countries where they reside, complete and timely information of the Romanian citizens regarding the developments in the pandemic were priority steps to the Romanian diplomacy in this period."
According to Aurescu, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has supported the repatriation of over 12,500 Romanian nationals. "Our bilateral contacts have been increasingly more numerous and effective, even in the absence of in-person meetings. Thus, during the period, I coordinated directly in telephone conversations with counterparts from about 30 countries," says Aurescu.
The minister says that during the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy, "together with a relevant number of special guests, ministers of foreign affairs from Romania's friendly states, the challenges that Romania must face in the future as a result of global, transatlantic, European and regional developments will be analysed."
"The purpose of the meeting is to identify current or emerging opportunities and to capitalise on them, in order to effectively achieve our foreign policy objectives, in an extremely unpredictable international environment," says Aurescu.
The Romanian minister adds on the Romanian Diplomacy Day, that "Romania's foreign policy is and must remain, above all, anchored in stability and continuity, in pursuit of the national interest". "Through everything we do, we responsibly relate to the essential objective of Romanian diplomacy to protect and promote the rights and interests of Romanian nationals at home and abroad."
