ISLAMABAD, MAR 30 (DNA) – Ambassador of Romania, Nicolae Goia along with his Counsellor / Deputy Head Mission, Laurentiu Ciocan, were accorded a warm welcome upon their arrival at CIIT Islamabad.

During his talk, He said that Romania, with a history dating back to 2,500 years, is a country with traditions very similar to Pakistan and is a nation where east meets west.

He said that that the name Romania is derived from Rome, since Romans occupied the present lands of Romania, and the Romanian language in related to the Latin language.

Present day Romania was established in 1st December 1918, so this year Romanians will be celebrating their centennial celebrations.

Regarding Pakistan, the Romanian Ambassador said that he has been here since 16 months and finds Pakistan to be a very normal country with brilliant, open and friendly people.

He lamented that Pakistan suffers from a negative perception and said that Romania had itself experienced such a situation in the past.

The Ambassador went further and offered his “partnership” to improve Pakistan’s image. He said every country has problems, but the problems have to be assessed, understood and solved.

Regarding Pak-Romanian relations, the Ambassador said that at the political level we enjoy very cordial relations with no contentious issues. A number of visits of senior officials take place between Romania and Pakistan.

Romania appreciates Pakistan’s fight against terrorism. Romania supported Pakistan in its bid for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council and expects that Pakistan will also support it in its bid for non-permanent membership of UN Security Council.

Regarding Economic relations, the Ambassador said he was not very pleased at the present level of cooperation.

Romania is the fastest growing economy in Europe with a per capita GDP of U$ 22,000 and Pakistan too is a fast-growing economy in the region; so he is confident that with his efforts the current bilateral trade of U$ 130 million would be raised to U$ 500 million very soon.

The Ambassador said that Pakistan has to transform itself from a political nation to an economic nation; and Romania is willing to make investment and offer assistance like it has done in the past while establishing the oil refinery in Karachi, cement factory in Lasbela and Kohat and tractor factory in Karachi.

Regarding Romanian academic institution, the Ambassador said that the state universities are very good and around 200 Pakistani students are currently studying in Romania in disciplines like medicine, engineering and IT.

He said that Bucharest is the capital of IT and has the top fourth position of internet speed in the world. He further said that Romania is facing shortage of skilled and unskilled manpower and is looking to fill many positions from outside Romania.=DNA

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