AGERPRES special correspondent Dana Piciu reports: Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who met on Tuesday at the Romanian Church in London with representatives of the Romanian community in the UK, told the attendance that 2024 is the first year when more Romanians returned to the homeland than those who left, and mentioned that the Romanian state must devise medium-term programs for those who wish to return to the country.

"I would very much have liked to address you today as a simple Romanian, I think it would have been much easier for me. I related how, in 1991 I attempted to remain in London, to settle in the diaspora, but I didn't succeed. Yet you succeeded, my brother did it, he lived in Germany with his family for about 15 years. I would have liked to share with you the joy that the Romanian state is finally getting involved and that it has understood that you cannot preserve identity and values without a clear link between the community, the church, and our traditions. Yet I have the misfortune to address you as prime minister, as a representative of the state. (...) It is the first time that the state has understood that it must invest in dual education, in health care, because otherwise we have no chance of determining as many of you as possible to return home. (...) Let me tell you with a glimpse of joy that this is the first year when more Romanians returned home than left. We must find that bonding element and that means capable of making our lives more beautiful, allowing us to be prouder and more useful for ourselves, for our families and for our country," was the prime minister's message to the Romanian expats in the UK.

He also mentioned that the state must come up with medium-term programs for those who want to return to the country, "ranging from tax exemptions to facilities for opening a business and, above all, we must find adequate resources for our top-gifted children who have the opportunity to continue their education at renowned faculties abroad, especially since Great Britain's legislation has changed. The state should provide scholarships to keep these children in elite universities and also find a way to persuade them to return to Romania. We have wasted far too much time and talked far too much about these things without doing anything," the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is paying on Tuesday and Wednesday a working visit to Great Britain, having meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, House of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and City of London Lord Mayor Alastair King on his Wednesday agenda. Also, the prime minister will participate in the Romania - UK Economic Forum due on November 13.

This is the first visit of a Romanian prime minister to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 17 years. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)