The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organizing the inaugural edition of the Romania-United States Exchange Program until October 11; as part of this initiative, a delegation comprising aides to US Congress members and representatives of the American think-tank community is visiting Romania.

According to a release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the visiting delegation includes aides to members of the US House of Representatives, specifically from the committees on Armed Services; Foreign Affairs; Intelligence; and Science, Space, and Technology, as well as aides from the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and representatives from RAND and the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

On the first day of the program, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu welcomed the US delegation and emphasized the importance of people-to-people contacts and visits to Romania in understanding the essential role our country plays in the transatlantic relationship.

At the same time, she acknowledged the significant role played by the US Congress in developing the Strategic Partnership, as well as the importance of the dialogue platforms provided by American think tanks.

'The head of Romanian diplomacy emphasized that Romania views the security and economic dimensions of its relationship with the United States as mutually reinforcing and strengthening, and noted Romania's full commitment to the goal of a stronger Europe within a stronger NATO. Our country's investments in its own defense capabilities, as well as in national military and dual-use infrastructure, play a major role in this regard. In this context, she highlighted the cooperation between the US and Romanian defense industries, involving both established state-owned companies in the sector and the dynamic ecosystem of recently founded start-ups,' the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Oana Toiu identified elevating economic cooperation to the same level as security cooperation as a desired direction for the evolution of the Strategic Partnership. She referred to Romania's role as a key hub in multiple regional and inter-regional economic projects promoted by the US, particularly in the fields of energy and transport infrastructure.

She highlighted the key role of the Port of Constanta in ensuring economic flows in the Black Sea region and global food security, noting the investments made by the Romanian state to develop port infrastructure.

'Today, we are launching the Romania-US exchange program established under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA), which enables this type of cooperation between the US and its key allies. We discussed these matters during my visit to Washington in February, and with this inaugural edition, we are taking a firm new step in our bilateral relationship, specifically in the people-to-people dimension, bringing US political, business, and academic circles closer to Romania and familiarizing them with the specific features of its socio-political, economic, and cultural landscape. We are investing significant energy in this bilateral relationship, not only regarding the political and security dimensions, such as the commitments made at the NATO Summit in Ankara, but also in the comprehensive and detailed manner in which we approach the relationship as a whole,' stated the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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The US State Department approved this program in March, pursuant to the 1961 MECEA legislation, following efforts by the Foreign Minister to advance this objective. MECEA serves as a public diplomacy tool that facilitates educational and cultural exchanges, while also familiarizing American political, business, and academic circles with Romania's socio-political, economic, security, and cultural context. During the visit, the US delegation will hold meetings with senior officials from the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, as well as with members of the Foreign Affairs Committees and the Committees on Defence, Public Order, and National Security.

The participants will visit the Port of Constanta and the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base and will meet with representatives of the Romanian defense industry. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)