Mirabela Gradinaru, the life partner of President Nicusor Dan, took part in a discussion at Georgetown University on Tuesday regarding the responsible use of technology by children, the Presidential Administration reports on Wednesday.

She met with the team from the Thrive Centre for families, children, and communities, and was joined in the discussions by the State Counsellor for Romanians Everywhere, Ana-Maria Geana. The Centre's specialists, who include Romanian professionals, expressed their readiness to share their expertise in developing programmes dedicated to responsible technology use and the creation of online social media platforms that are less harmful to children.

The Presidential Administration delegation - which includes Mirabela Gradinaru and State Counsellors Vlad Ionescu and Diana Punga - participated on Tuesday in the first working session of the 'Preparing the Future Together' Coalition Global Summit. The summit is being held in Washington, D.C., at the initiative of the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump.

The event brought together First Ladies from several nations, representatives of technology companies, and education experts. Its objective is to identify the most effective solutions for supporting children and young people in development and innovation through the safe use of new technologies and Artificial Intelligence.

In her address, Mirabela Gradinaru highlighted four essential pillars for action: the development of a digital architecture accessible to all by increasing digital literacy; the continuous training of teaching staff to harness the potential of modern technologies in education; the adaptation of curricula to integrate these technologies into student skill-building; and the implementation of educational platforms supported by AI tools.

The Presidential Administration delegation was accompanied at the Summit by Andrada Morar, UiPath Vice President for Customer Experience and Global Partners, and Robert Berza, Executive Director of the EDGE Institute Romania. UiPath is Romania's first 'unicorn' company, while the EDGE Institute is a think-tank actively involved in accelerating national digital transformation. Their presence underscores the importance of public-private collaboration in the field of digitalisation.

Achieving the objectives announced at the Summit also depends on strengthening Romania's partnerships with organisations such as the American Councils for International Education. In this context, the Romanian delegation held a meeting with the organisation's President, Lisa Choate, to discuss expanding cooperation in educational exchanges. Emphasis was placed on the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) programme, as well as on identifying new forms of collaboration to include the exchange of expertise between Romania and the USA in the fields of education and technology. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)