Korea and Romania first established diplomatic ties on March 30, 1990. There are about 300 Koreans living in Romania and many Korean companies are also operating in Romania. H.E. Cezar-ManoleArmeanu, theAmbassador of Romania to Korea, has been working to develop relations between Korea and Romania since taking office as an ambassador on September 12, 2021. Seoul City had a short interview with him over a cup of coffee.

What is your priority in the development of bilateral relationship between Korea and Romania?
I’m very excited to work here in a very nice country. I really appreciate Korean people’s behavior. I remember more than 20 years ago, I visited Seoul as a deputy minister of Romanian government. After a long period of time, I’ve returned to your very nice city. Honestly I couldn’t recognize Seoul at first. It has changed and developed a lot. I’m not just discussing infrastructure such as bridges or roads, etc. Everything has changed and it looks very nice. Discussing our bilateral approaches, as ambassador, I have a few priorities. First of all, to enhance political and diplomatic dialogue between the two countries. Due to the restrictions caused by COVID-19, we were obliged to stay away from each other, but right now we are resuming our dialogue for common agendas. For example, on December 20, an important Romanian delegation will visit Korea, which will include the Speaker of Deputy’sChamber and the Romanian Prime Minister. They will be joined by 6 ministers: Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Economy,Minister ofEnergy, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization and Minister ofEducation. There will also be members of the Romanian Parliament including theco-president of our Friendship Parliamentary group. Second point, from my point of view, is the development of economic cooperation. We are discussing overall economic approaches and bilateral trade. Of course, we’re working to attract Korean investors in Romania in automotive industry, renewable energy and other different industries, infrastructure projects, which need to be developed in Romania. I’m also looking to attract Romanian companies in Korea. In this regard,Romanian economic mission that includes Romanian business people who are very focused on IT, aerospace, AI(artificial intelligence) and educationwill visit Korea. We’d like to strengthen partnership between Korean and Romanian universities. A lot of MOUs (memorandum of understanding) have been already signed. However, we are always looking for new solutions and niche opportunities to develop our approaches. Research is also very important. I’m also looking to develop partnership in cultural area. As you may know, Romania has a lot of experience in making movies and very good artists in classical music. Every year Romania organizes Romania-George EnescuInternational Festival. Every year Korean artists are invited to the festival and 3 or 4 Korean artists managed to win awards. I’ve already sent request, written by Romanian National Opera, to make different agreements with Seoul National Opera, Busan Opera and Daegu Opera. We will also organize a lot of exhibition and activities next year because we are going to celebrate 50th anniversary of our strategic partnership. Korea is the only Romanian strategic partner in this region.

It’s been about 9 months since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office. Please share your thoughts on his administration.
He’s working with like-minded countries such as United States and European Union countries including Romania. This is very important. Yoon administration is working to improve the peace in the world and to find solutions in the Korean Peninsula in the midst of Ukraine war, which gives a very difficult time for Romania as we share the longest border between EU countries and Ukraine. President Yoon Suk-yeol attended his first NATO Summit in Madrid, which was good signal as Korea is looking to support and to be with its allies including United States and EU countries. I also appreciate his efforts focused on developing projects in climate changes and renewable energy. He is also oriented in human rights, which is very important. President Yoon Suk-yeol is interested in further strengthening right framework with United States and Japan for protection in the Indo-Pacific region. He’s also making efforts to strengthen Strategic partnership with EU.

Korea looks forward to Romania’s support for 2030 Busan World Expo
To be mentioned that during the visit to Korea of the Romanian officials will have many exchanges with the Korean business community and the Busan authorities.Romanian delegation will visit facilities of Korean companies in defense industry including Hyundai Rotem and Hanwha. We will also visit Busan Port. However, most importantly, we will visit Busan Mayor and his staff to discuss how we can improve the bilateral relationship. I hope it will be a productive visit. Romanian Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communicationsof Romania is looking to sign an agreement to develop partnership between the Busan harbor and Constanta harbor. There will also be a meeting with the Minister of Education and President of Korea Maritime and Ocean University in order to finalize the agreement between Constanta Maritime University and Korea Maritime and Ocean University. There have been much discussion regarding this matter and we’re trying to finalize it now.