Romania’s PM Ponta starts US visit

Prime minister Ponta started on Monday a three-day visit in the US, in a bid to enhance political and economical relations with one of Romania’s key global partners.

The visit comes on the backdrop of the strategic partnership signed between the two countries in 2011, which lays out the foundation for closer collaboration in a wide array of areas ranging from military to politics and economy.

“I consider that it’s of utmost strategic importance that Romania maintains, consolidates and offers a future perspective of our special relationship, of the Strategic Partnership with the US,” said the PM last week.

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Ponta is the first Romanian PM going on an US tour in the in the past ten years.

On Monday, the PM was due to meet representatives of large American corporations such as oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron, IT giants IBM and HP and Motorola, the telecom group. He had scheduled meetings with the US Secretary of Commerce,  Penny Pritzker, and the Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz.

The next day he will meet with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and US Vice President Joe Biden.

Ponta will conclude his visit by addressing Congress on the option of including Romania in the Visa Waiver program and attending the signing ceremony of the collaboration with the Holocaust Museum.

Some of the cabinet ministers – handling energy, education, environment, and foreign affairs – are also part of the delegation.   

President Basescu went to Washington in late 2011 and met with his US counterpart Barack Obama in the White House’s Oval Office. Following the visit, the Romanian president claimed the country would achieve the highest level of security in its history.

His statement could be linked to the placement of the US missile defense shield in Deveselu, where building works started this year. The first stage of the shield is expected to go online by 2015.

Mircea Dusa, the Romanian defense minister, said the Deveselu site is one of the main pillars of the strategic partnership, contributing to the development of NATO’s capabilities in this field. He started the official visit in the US last Thursday and was due to meet his US counterpart Chuck Hagel. The minister had on his agenda the acquisition of F-16 fighters and the budget of Romania’s Ministry of Defense.

In addition, Romania hosts a US military base in Kogalniceanu, which will be used by American forces to redeploy troops and cargo out of Afghanistan.

Ovidiu Posirca