The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) announced on Wednesday that the US authorities have approved the initiation of Romania-United States Exchange Program.

This decision follows the endeavors made by Foreign Affairs Minister Oana Toiu, during her visit to Washington in February, the MAE informed.

The program is based on the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA) of 1961, which aims to promote mutual understanding between countries through educational and cultural exchanges. The MECEA is a public diplomacy instrument which will facilitate mutual knowledge and familiarize US political, business and academic circles with the realities of Romania and its region.

The MECEA program complements the existing educational instruments (such as Fulbright and FLEX), as well as other initiatives aimed at deepening the understanding of Romania's social-political, economic, security and cultural context.

The approval of this program creates the necessary framework for organizing visits by US federal officials to Romania, with the goal of encouraging institutional dialogue, expertise exchange and cooperation in areas of mutual interest between Romania and the United States.

According to the MAE, trough Romania - United States Exchange Program, visits will be organised of some US delegations to institutions, think-tanks, associations, universities, historical and cultural sites, as well as sessions dedicated to understanding policy implementation and participation in various public diplomacy events. The selected themes for each visit may cover areas such as security and defense, economy, trade, investment, intellectual property, culture, social issues, healthcare, education, technology, energy, science, research and innovation.

A first visit to Romania is being considered for later this year, with participation mainly from the US Congress.

The implementation of the program will be managed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Rodica State)