Since January 2009 His Excellency Mr. Emilian Ion has been serving as the Ambassador of Romania to Pakistan. His Excellency Mr. Emilian Ion has 35 years of experience in diplomatic arena.

He completed his graduation from Academy for Economic Studies, Bucharest in 1971 and Post-Graduation in International Studies in 1977 from Bucharest. He is fluent in Franch, English and Russian.

From 1971 to 1974 he worked as Economist in Ministry for Chemical Industry. He has also worked in different capacities in Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bucharest.

He has been appointed twice as Charge D’Affaires of Embassy of Romania to Nouakchott from 1985-88 and from 1990-91. Beside this, he also served as Charge D’Affaires of Embassy of Romania to Rabat, Baghdad and Nairobi in 1997-99, 2000-2002, and 2002-2006 respectively.

In Nairobi from June 2005 to 2006 he has also served as a Permanent representative of UNEP an UN-Habitat.

He is married and blessed with a son. He was born in July 10, 1949 in Romania. He is a man with a clear vision and thought and has full command over his work.

Romania committed to regional

peace & stability, says envoy

ISLAMABAD: Mr. Emilian ION, Ambassador of Romania in Pakistan has said, his country was committed to regional peace and stability, and would extend its all possible cooperation to the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan in this respect.

He said, Romanian troops were already engaged in the rebuilding process of Afghanistan under the umbrella of NATO, and hoped, with the coordinated efforts of the international community and regional countries such as Pakistan, peace shall soon return to Afghanistan.

Mr. Emilian was speaking to a selected group of media people on the occasion of the country’s national day. Mr. Emilian is a career diplomat having vast experience of international diplomacy.

While talking about his country’s role in various developmental activities, he said, Romania was an active donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and was committed to support achieving the Millennium Development Goals, with main objective poverty eradication.

Romania’s priority regions are Western Balkans, with focus on Serbia, Eastern Europe, with focus on Republic of Moldova, and South Caucasus, and Georgia. Through its development projects, Romania contributes to enhance stability, security and prosperity in these regions.

Romanian, the Ambassador said, is doing extremely well in the field of economy.  Romanian is positioned at the crossroads between EU, the Balkans and CIS countries, crossed by three important pan-European transportation corridors; the Danube as inland water transportation and connection between the Port of Constanta (the biggest Port to the Black Sea) to Northern Europe, through the Rhine.

Besides, having highly skilled labors force the country is rich in natural resources: surface and underground waters, fertile agricultural land, oil and gas and a high potential for tourism.  Its well-developed networks of mobile telecommunications in GSM systems; highly developed industrial infrastructure, including oil and petrochemicals; branch offices of various well-known international banks offer huge investment potential to outside businessmen.

Romania is a county that offers equal opportunities to people of all faiths. As many as 20 national minorities are represented in the Parliament of Romania,   even if the votes they gather at elections are under the legal parliamentary threshold for political parties. This is a part of the open policy towards minorities, to preserve their national identities.

To a question about his country’s relationship with European Union Mr. Emilian said, Romanian was EU member since 2007 and the 7th largest country of the Union, Romania actively supports and contributes to European policies and projects.  It is the 5th largest contributor to the EU Monitoring Mission that ensures stability in Georgia, after the conflict in August 2008. Romania has promoted the EU Black Sea Synergy, aimed at developing cooperation around the Black Sea and bringing this area closer to the European Union. Along with Austria, Romania has promoted an EU strategy for the development of the Danube area. 

When was asked to comment on the recently implemented Lisbon Treaty, the Ambassador said, Romania has welcomed with great satisfaction the entry into force, on December 1st , 2009, of the Lisbon Treaty, the first treaty negotiated and signed by Romania as a European Union member state, after its accession on January 1st, 2007.

The innovations brought by the Treaty, both at institutional level and in terms of European policies, will allow a resizing of the Union on the international scene and a more efficient approach towards the internal problems, of interest to all the European citizens: climate change, economic crisis, energy etc.

The Lisbon Treaty will give the Union greater coherence and increased visibility at international level. The establishment of two new European high level management designations is creating stable interlocutors at European level, for all EU external partners. This will enable the EU to strengthen its role as a major player on the international scene and to deal better with the challenges and global competition.

Romania is NATO member since 2004, and hosted in Bucharest, in April 2008, the largest ever summit of the Alliance, both as number of participants (over 6500) and as formats. The hallmark of the Bucharest summit was that members agreed in principle to expand the Alliance by admitting more members, he added.

To yet another question about pre-Communist and post-Communist era, the envoy said, freedom meant a start for a new life for millions of Romanians, living in Romania or abroad. Before ’89, people were subjected to the arbitrary will of the state and of the communist party, which relied on a mighty political police. In December ‘89, Romanians won their right to be individuals with rights and freedoms, as any other citizen of the free world.