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AGERPRES special corespondent, Oana Ghita, reports: Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu began his official visit to the United States of America at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, where he commemorated the victims of the genocide of the Second World War, on Sunday.
He ended the tour of the museum in the Hall of Remembrance, a quiet space, where he lit a candle, together with members of his official delegation. Marcel Ciolacu then signed the Museum's honor book.
The Romanian delegation was accompanied by the US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, and the Romanian ambassador to the United States of America, Andrei Muraru.
The guide of the delegation in the memorial museum was the director of the institution, Sara Bloomfield.
She told the prime minister that Romania is considered a leader in remembering the history of the Holocaust. "Thank you very much," she said. At the same time, he spoke about the symbolism of the Museum, about the "fracture in Western civilization" in the Second World War and about "how it was possible for some people to do something like this to other people, something that started in a country like Germany , with a highly educated, highly developed population, with a democratic constitution, rule of law, which slipped into genocide".
Thus, according to Bloomfield, the Museum speaks "about the role of the USA in the world and about all the people who care about the future of freedom and human dignity".
On Sunday evening, the Head of the Executive will meet with representatives of the Romanian community from the Washington - Virginia - Maryland area.
On Monday, he participates in the official wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Heroes' Cemetery in Washington. The ceremony includes 19 cannon volleys and honoring the flag.
Afterwards, the Romanian Prime Minister will meet, at the Pentagon, with the American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken. At the end of the day, he will also meet with Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy.
Marcel Ciolacu is on an official visit to Washington D.C. and in New York until Wednesday, together with a government delegation that includes the Minister of Defense, Angel Tilvar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminita Odobescu, and the Minister of Economy, Radu Oprea.
According to a Government press release, he will have meetings with several high-ranking American officials. Thus, at the US State Department, the prime minister will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Also, the Chief Executive will have meetings with the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin and the Secretary of Energy of the United States of America, Jennifer Granholm.
An important point of the visit is the meetings, in New York, with Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations and with Dennis Frances, the chairman of the UN General Assembly.
The program of the visit will include meetings with representatives of the leadership of the Armed Forces Committee in the House of Representatives, Mike Rogers and Adam Smith, with the co-chairmen of the Foreign Relations Committee in the US Senate, senators Ben Cardin and James Risch, and with the co-chairmen of the Friendship Group with Romania from the House of Representatives, Mike Turner and Elissa Slotkin.
