National Day of Romania celebrated
The year 2024 marks 60th anniversary of the establishment of Romania-Pakistan bilateral relations and these six decades have seen growing people-to-people, business-to-business and government-to-government ties.
These views were expressed by Ambassador-designate of Romania, Dan Stoenescu while addressing a reception that marked the 106th National Day of Romania. Earlier the reception was scheduled to be held on Nov 28 three days before the National Day (December 1) but had to be postponed owing to the political situation and protests in the federal capital to December 11.
It was a well-attended gala themed on the colours, culture and cuisine of the South-Eastern European country that is 12th largest and 6th most populous country (19.5 million) in Europe. A cake was also cut on the occasion and national anthems of Romania and Pakistan were also played.
Special Assistant to PM on Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi was the Chief Guest on the occasion while a number of parliamentarians, Ambassador of EU Delegation, DrRiinaKionka, members of the EU countries, African Union and other nations attended the reception to greet the new head of the Romanian mission, Deputy Head of Mission (DHM) Eduard Preda and the Romanian nationals.
Mr Dan has arrived in Islamabad only one-and-a-half months ago (November 1) and is yet to present his credentials to the President of Pakistan. Earlier he has served in Tunisia as ambassador and in Syria as chief of the European Delegation. Also, between 2015 and 2016, he was Minister for Romanian Diaspora.
In his speech as Chief Guest, Tariq Fatemi said Romania was an important country in Europe whose industrial base is strong. Fatemi recalled his visit to Romania some 50 years ago as Director of European Affairs. “I found the country a growing nation in Europe and later when it joined the European Union its ambassador in in Brussels hosted a grand reception to celebrate the occasion,” he recalled.
Pakistan and Romania, he said enjoyed excellent relations both in terms of trade commerce, and cooperation in terms of important and sensitive sphere i.e. defence, he said.
Romania, he said has been generous in sharing its knowledge, experience and expertise and we have gained tremendously from that.
