George Maior gets select committees' OK for Romania's Ambassador in Washington

Former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) George Maior on Tuesday got the okay of the Houses' Joint Foreign Policy Committees for the position of Ambassador of Romania to the United States.

Photo credit: (c) Grigore POPESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Maior's bid earned 18 favorable votes, one vote against and one abstention.

Maior spoke of the crucial importance of the bilateral relationship with the U.S., showing that it has seen an all-encompassing development after the signing of the Strategic Partnership Declaration, "a central element of Romania's foreign and security policy." He added that a constant drive of his project as ambassador will be to strengthen ties with the Romanian community, which he says, carry a huge potential for developing the relationship with the U.S.

"I consider steps towards the visa waiver a major goal of my term," the former Intelligence head said.

Maior stressed that all the themes of the strategic partnership need to be permanently deepened and taken further in the strategic and political dialogue with the U.S. authorities. The former SRI director also mentioned that rendering the Deveselu missile shield operational is an aspect that permanently needs to stay in focus.

"An aspect that can be further deepened within the Strategic Partnership is the economic relationship. It is unacceptable for the U.S. to be just the eleventh most important investor in Romania. This situation must be corrected," said George Maior, adding that action is needed to attract American investments, particularly to the IT and energy sectors.

He also said that the Russian Federation represents a threat in the region.

"Russia is a threat in the region, this needs to be emphasized in the circles of...