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Speech by Prime Minister Florin Cîțu at the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy (RADR)

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Dear Mr President,

Ladies and gentlemen, Heads of Diplomatic Missions,

Dear representatives of the foreign diplomatic and consular corps accredited in Bucharest,

Dear participants,

I am glad to attend this meeting of Romanian diplomacy in a traditional format - a first for me. I am sure that the meeting that begins today will provide, as usual, an opportunity for substantial exchanges of ideas that will underlie your future actions.

The world is undergoing profound changes, some of them hard to imagine some time ago. More than a year and a half after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still facing largely unpredictable challenges.

The 2021 agenda themes respond to current challenges and I am sure they will contribute proactively to the topical debates.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I will further refer to the major themes within the strategic priorities of Romania's foreign policy, from the perspective of my responsibility as Head of the Romanian Executive.

The fundamental landmarks of our foreign policy remain those laid out in the programme for government 2020-2024: increasing the role and influence of our country in the EU, and NATO respectively, along with deepening and developing the Strategic Partnership with the United States.

The pandemic has once again shown that the solidarity of the EU Member States is vital in managing crises of broad scope. One thing is clear - no Member State could have dealt with the pandemic on its own, outside the framework provided by the European Union.

Today, one of the most complex and important support tools ever outlined at the European level, PNRR, comes with a key message of commitment, unity and solidarity at the EU level.

Meanwhile, the optimal functioning of the Schengen Area remain essential and, considering the objective of a more resilient Union, the importance of its reform also became as obvious as possible, which is why we maintain the objective of Romania's accession to this free movement area.

As the theme of the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy indicates, the effects of the pandemic brought to the fore an in-depth discussion about resilience, or, in other words, about the ability to respond and return to normalcy.

In addition, as President Klaus Iohannis pointed out, strengthening the resilience of the European Union requires action both internally and externally, as the EU’s resilience depends not only on the resilience of the institutions and the Member States but also on the resilience of its vicinities.

We currently need to increase the capacity for anticipation, response and recovery. Resilience involves sustainable economic growth, defence against cyber threats, innovation capacity, sound health systems.

It is also essential for us to identify, in the coming period, the vulnerabilities we are facing.

After the approval of PNRR by the European Commission, which will happen soon, late this month, we have the responsibility of PNRR implementation, and the Romanian Government does not deviate from this objective.

The PNRR and the European multiannual budget will allow us to channel these extraordinarily important resources into post-crisis reconstruction, but also in order to achieve the country's medium and long-term development goals.

Romania's growth and development must be based on robust and sustainable economic growth, jobs, measures to stimulate the business environment, especially the SMEs, as well as foreign investment.

We must qualitatively and quantitatively increase the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ contribution, through actions of economic diplomacy, as well as the contribution of the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, through the network of economic attachés of the diplomatic missions.

I desire we have an as efficient as possible economic diplomacy and we boost trade exchange with the widest range of foreign partners. Please attach special attention to the objective of increasing direct foreign investments in our country.

Your Excellencies, Ambassadors,

I am aware of the fact that climate change, digitalization, and new technologies are important topics that are also on the agenda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Therefore, I welcome the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ future-oriented diplomatic activity, through increased prognosis and anticipation capability. I welcome the approach of these topics in this edition of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy.

One of the topical issues on the European agenda is increasing the ambition regarding reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and the ways to achieve this goal undertaken at the EU level.

The proposals that the European Commission put forward earlier this summer, through the Fit for 55 package, are complex and require in-depth discussions. I appreciate the initiative to include the climate change theme in this year's agenda of the Romanian Diplomacy Meeting. I also appreciate the step of launching a network of climate diplomacy within our embassies. It is a field that we need to include in every policy we are developing.

Romania understands this need and is backing the European Union's efforts to combat the effects of climate change.

At the same time, we are preoccupied with making sure that our steps towards green transition protect economic competitiveness and take into account the social consequences of this process which differs from state to state.

I invite you, ambassadors, to pay close attention to this transformation and to the way the state in which you carry out our activity, manages the opportunities and challenges of the green transition.

Last but not least, I invite Romanian diplomacy in the European space and in other key regions, to focus on technology diplomacy as well. I insist on the importance of attracting investments in Romania, as well as technological know-how.

To this end, diplomacy needs to have a comprehensive approach meant to offer decision-makers an overview of both political developments and economic, social and technological trends in the country of residence.

We want to know our potential partners, but also the potential competitors on a pool of resources that will be highly sought after in the next period.

Therefore, your mission is to identify opportunities, to signal to us in a dynamic and anticipatory way those partners that Romania should attract.

Together with our European partners, we must act strategically, including for increased resilience in a transatlantic context.

NATO has made a major contribution to managing the effects of the pandemic, on at least two levels: preventing the transformation of the pandemic crisis into a security one and redesigning the geopolitical vision on the future of our strategic community, while maintaining the security guarantees that bind us.

The outcomes of the NATO Brussels Summit held in June, confirmed our Allied commitment, primarily in terms of our position on the Eastern Flank and in the Black Sea region. Resilience has also become an increasingly relevant benchmark at the Allies level.

From our perspective, the resilience of the EU-US Strategic Partnership and of each partner is also essential, along with the cooperation in complementarity between the EU and the North Atlantic Alliance.

I would like to mention here, among our contributions, hosting in Bucharest the Euro-Atlantic Centre For Resilience, inaugurated in late May, a project in which Romanian diplomacy has played and continues to play an essential role.

I cannot forget to mention the importance of the progress made in strengthening resilience among EU's Eastern partners. From this point of view, this is a journey that is also essential for the Republic of Moldova, where the new political situation is as favourable as possible. This is why I urge you to prepare the joint government meeting we will have in a short while so that it brings substantial results in what concerns the reform process that the new government in Chisinau committed to carry out.

All in all, European vicinities from the Black Sea to Western Balkans and beyond that, must be considered as a priority in achieving our foreign policy objectives.

Last but not least, we should focus more and more in this special context we are facing alongside European and Transatlantic partners, on strengthening ties and cooperation with like-minded states in the Asia –Pacific region.

The main outcome of Romania’s cooperation with states in the Asia –Pacific region was seen both in 2020, and 2021, in the context of the pandemic. We are glad that Romania is among the states with which countries like Australia, South Korea, India or Vietnam cooperated closely.

I wish you good luck and the best possible outcome to this meeting and I express my support, as Prime Minister of Romania, for your activity at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the service of Romania’s interests and the Romanian citizens.

Thank you!