Online meeting with representatives

Department for Romanians Everywhere

The Department for Romanians Abroad organized the online meeting on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, with Mr. Gheorghe-Florin Cârciu, the state secretary of the Department, which had as its theme the recently concluded project session for protecting and strengthening the Romanian identity outside Romania's borders.

It was without a doubt a salutary initiative of the Department for Romanians Abroad to get involved more strongly and concretely in protecting and strengthening the identity of Romanian communities outside the borders. The categories of these projects were: education, media, spirituality and traditions, culture, and civil society.

In the opening of the project session, the state secretary of the DRP, on February 28, 2023, said: “We must and it is normal to support Romanians Abroad as much as possible, as the official and unofficial figures show us without any doubt that we still have a Romania outside our borders. Throughout my mandate, I wish to have an honest, committed, constructive dialogue with associations and Romanians abroad. Together, through successive consultations, we built the new funding guide.”

This meeting was attended by His Grace Ioan Casian, the Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada, Mrs. Daniela Bochiș, PhD and Mrs. Carmen Ognean, the coordinators of two of the program projects sent by the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada during this session.

In the dialogue held with the Secretary of State, Mr. Gheorghe-Florin Cârciu, as well as with the representatives of the DRP present, the representatives of the Diocese of Canada recalled the real need for support for the Romanian communities located at a great geographical distance from Romania and which have different generations in their composition of Canadians of Romanian origin. In particular, the very long distances and certain needs and specific elements of these communities must be considered in the DRP strategy, as is the case with the ARC camps. It was suggested to encourage camp projects with a length longer than a week, and with a program adapted to the composition of the group and the spiritual part that gives solidity to the diaspora communities.

The strategy for the Romanians abroad shows that: Romanians outside the country's borders represent an invaluable resource for the Romanian state from a cultural, economic, and political point of view. Through its fundamental law, the Romanian state undertakes to strengthen ties with Romanians outside the borders and acts to preserve, develop and express their ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious identity, respecting international legislation.

The organization of this meeting by the Department for Romanians Abroad allowed not only the discussion of issues of particular interest to the communities in the diaspora, but also constituted a real exchange of experience between the organizations in the diaspora.

(notes by Carmen Ognean)