Financiarul

The Romanian diplomacy needs concrete, not merely declarative politicking support, Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu told a news conference on Friday, also stressing he will keep the ministry’s tradition of serving the national, not the political interest.

‘Foreign policy targets the short-, medium- and long-term national interest and it will only be efficient if it has broad unprejudiced political support.

There is a tradition of the Foreign Affairs Ministry that I wish to keep, namely that regardless of the political orientations and stages, the diplomacy serves the national, not the political interests and therefore, amid the current internal and international economic and social circumstances I believe such backing should not remain a mere declaration, politicking or a formal backing’, Diaconescu said.

The minister stressed the Romanian diplomacy needs concrete support, including with respect to financing the foreign policy projects and the projects of a national interest.

At the same time, he added, ‘we owe it to give a responsible answer to the present demands set by the Romanian state institutions and by the Government in particular’.

‘I have devoted the last weeks to a broad effort of re-establishing the management of the diplomatic activity on new bases in order to make a decision related to administrative efficiency. In our opinion efficiency means professionalism on the one hand and removing excesses and squandering, on the other’, Minister Diaconescu added.

President Traian Basescu told the public radio on Thursday that the state apparatus should be cut massively and that he will keep supporting the ruling coalition, though he doesn’t like its manner of protracting matters.

On the other hand, the president stressed the Romanian diplomacy, for the moment, has problems in understanding the importance of certain areas.
‘For two years, at the annual meeting with the Diplomatic Corps I have been telling the diplomats to go to Central Asia, to look at Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, to look at the Caspian Sea area.

It is there that we need diplomats, rather the crowding the bilateral embassy in Brussels or the bilateral embassy in London or God knows where else that we like to travel’, he said.

Basescu pointed out there should be an end to the dilettantism in approaching the Romanian interests and voiced hope Minister Cristian Diaconescu will do what there should be done for the Romanian embassies in Central Asia to be well equipped with diplomats.