RADR 2021/ForMin Aurescu: Romania has deployed major efforts to evacuate Romanian and Afghan nationals

Romania has deployed major efforts to evacuate Romanian and Afghan nationals at risk of Taliban's revenge in Afghanistan, and succeeded, Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy (RADR) 2021 in opening remarks on Tuesday. "Buttressed by exceptional inter-institutional co-operation, the evacuation of 49 Romanian nationals, seven nationals of other NATO member states and 156 Afghan nationals - former collaborators of the Romanian troops in the war zone, students on scholarships in Romania, other vulnerable categories such as journalists, human rights activists, magistrates and their family members - has been a real success," said the head of the Romanian diplomacy. According to him, the Inter-institutional Task Force, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which it convened on August 13 with the participation of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Ministry of National Defence and the Romanian Intelligence Service, "deserves all the praise." "I want to thank all my colleagues and partners for their involvement and almost superhuman efforts," he added. The foreign ministers of Moldova, Greece, Italy and India are the RADR 2021 guests, and they will deliver remarks either virtually or in person from Bucharest as part of the event that takes place September 7-9. The theme of this year's edition is "Diplomacy action to strengthen Romania's resilience." The event, organised according to tradition around the Romanian Diplomacy Day, brings together, this time in a virtual format, the heads of Romania's diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad. The RADR works are chaired by Aurescu. Aurescu's special guests at this year's meeting are: Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova Nicolae Popescu, who will be in Bucharest on an official visit; Foreign Minister of Greece Nikos Dendias, also on a visit to Romania; Italy's the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio, who will deliver a video message; Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar; Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan; Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica; Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Schmid, who will address the meeting via live videoconference; and Secretary General of the Community of Democracies (CoD) Thomas Garrett, who will be in Bucharest. The main theme of RADR 2012 is centred on the concept of resilience, given its increasing importance amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly more numerous, sophisticated and heterogeneous post-pandemic challenges. Special attention will also be paid to the role of strengthening multilateralism as part of all measures to get accustomed to the new geopolitical context; the importance of the process related to the Conference on the Future of Europe and NATO2030, as well as the need to focus the efforts of the Romanian diplomacy on emerging themes related to digital transition and climate diplomacy, as well as increasing the role of new technologies and cyber security. RADR is traditionally organised every year around the Romanian Diplomacy Day, which has been celebrated on September 1 since 2005. The event offers an opportunity to assess the activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the past year, and also to consider the challenges that Romania has to face in the future as a result of global, transatlantic, European and regional developments. The debates also aim to identify current and emerging opportunities that need to be seized, as well as establishing the main action guidelines for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic service, in the short and medium term. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)