Romania needs the skills developed by Romanians who have chosen to live or study abroad, President Nicusor Dan stated on Friday. He noted that there is a desire and willingness on all sides to collaborate, but that "from time to time," time is in short supply, leading to the postponement of future-oriented initiatives until current, pressing issues are resolved.
The head of state attended the opening of the 6th edition of the Forum for Young Romanians Everywhere, held at Cotroceni Palace. The event was organized by the Federation of Youth Forums in Romania, the League of Romanian Students Abroad, and the National Union of Students in Romania, agerpres reports.
"I would like to thank each and every one of you for your willingness to participate in these discussions, as it is important that we reflect on the future together. Twenty-six years ago, on behalf of an NGO, with Sandra Pralong leading the organization and President Constantinescu providing the setting and venue, I helped arrange a meeting between young people in Romania and those who had gone abroad for their studies. I am glad that this continues to happen today. The first point I want to make is that a great deal has changed since then. While we are quite prone to self-criticism, if we compare what Romania was like back then to what it is now, we can see fundamental changes: we are part of the European Union and NATO; our GDP has grown from 100 billion to 400 billion - for context, I used to earn a salary of 100 dollars at the Institute of Mathematics - so, clearly, we are no longer where we once were," stated Nicusor Dan.
The President pointed out that society as a whole, including the Romanians living abroad, has evolved.
"We should be proud of this progress, while, of course, not sweeping the shortcomings we still face under the rug. Clearly, Romania needs the skills developed by those Romanians who chose to live or study abroad. There is certainly a desire and a willingness on all sides; the fundamental question is how we will manage to collaborate, given that we have a history of many wonderful ideas and plenty of good intentions, but fewer tangible results," added the head of state.
He noted that while there is every willingness to collaborate, time is sometimes in short supply.
"If I may offer a suggestion, I would steer our discussions in this direction: how can we develop a project with a clear timeline, realistic objectives, and realistic requests for public authorities? We are fully prepared to cooperate, but time is sometimes lacking, meaning that future-oriented initiatives get postponed while we focus on addressing current issues that consume all our time. On this optimistic note, allow me to conclude. I wish you success; and, naturally, the very fact that we are all here shows that we believe in Romania," President Nicusor Dan further remarked.
The Forum of Young Romanians Everywhere (FTRP), now in its 6th edition, began its proceedings on Friday at Cotroceni Palace, in the presence of President Nicusor Dan. Also in attendance at the ceremony were Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, Minister of Education Sorin Costreie, and former President Emil Constantinescu.
During the six-day Forum, over 150 young people from Romania and the diaspora will engage in activities aimed at identifying concrete solutions to issues that affect them. They will also develop specific proposals for legislative changes covering topics ranging from education and the labor market to the justice system and relations with the diaspora.
