Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Emilian Ion, Ambassador of Romania and Dean of European Diplomatic Corps said on Wednesday that currently trade between Romania and Pakistan was $3,00 million with the balance in favour of Romania. There is more potential of further enhancing the trade between both the countries.

He was speaking at a “Meet the Press” function at the National Press Club here. The Ambassador of Romania said that his country exports canola seeds, chemicals, agricultural machinery and imports from Pakistan items like cotton for textile, fruits specially mangos, rice etc. He said that the CEPEC project could be beneficial for Pakistan’s economy.

Romania is the seventh largest member of the European Union (EU) and an active member of NATO. Romania and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in 1964. Romania helped Pakistan in building five cement plants in Pakistan. “I was appointed as Ambassador of Romania in 2009, with the purpose to further strengthen bilateral relations,” he added.

He said that Pakistan had huge natural resources and a rich cultural diversity. Both countries could cooperate in the energy sector, because Pakistan had dire need of electricity and other energy resources.

He said both countries had exchanges of parliamentarians and recently the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, visited Romania with a delegation. “We have defence and commercial cooperation as well as exchange of cultural, artists and a programme of scholarship for Pakistani students in Romania.

Both countries believe in exchanges of cultural troupes specially Romania is in favour of young artists’ talent exchange. Our deputy minister will soon visit Pakistan. Romanian teachers are also serving here for the promotion of education in Pakistan,” he added.

Ion said that currently besides the embassy here in Islamabad, four honorary consulates in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Peshawar were functioning. Romania has a programme to turn these honorary consulates to career consuls.

While remembering the Naltar, Pakistani military helicopter crash, on May 8, last year in which his fellow diplomats and their family members were killed including the then ambassador of Indonesia, the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines, and wives of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors also died along with two pilots and a technician. “On the unfortunate day, last year, fellow diplomats and their family members and I got born again on that day,” the Romanian Ambassador added.

While, responding to different queries, he said that both countries had signed a visa protocol through which both the countries’ diplomats and blue passport holders were exempted from the visa. He said some Pakistani people got the Romanian visa and illegally crossed other countries’ borders.