With the elimination of US visas, a process in the last hundred meters, Romania should export to the USA serious specialists, on the model of the “Polish plumber”, and control crime, in order not to repeat the mistake made in the EU, claims Daniel David, rector of UBB.
The elimination of visas for the USA is on the last hundred meters. PHOTO: Mediafax
Romania is on the last hundred meters in terms of eliminating visas for the United States, according to the Romanian ambassador to the United States of America (USA), Dan-Andrei Muraru.
“We are on the last hundred meters, that is, until the end of the American fiscal year, which ends on October 1 this year, we are convinced that the criterion of being below 3% rejection rate from all applications of Romanian citizens for visas in the USA will be met“, the ambassador claimed.
Last fiscal year, which ended on October 1, 2023, we had a rejection rate of over 8%, but this year we can be below 3%, Muraru detailed for Agerpres.
In July, the government launched the “We qualify Romania for the Visa Waiver Program” campaign, through which it tries to obtain a visa rejection rate below 3% – a technical criterion that must be met. Addresses have been sent to universities and other institutions urging teachers to renew their US visas or apply for visas.
The Romanian Academy and Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, the largest museum and research complex in the world, organized, in July, the event “Romania at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 25th Anniversary Celebration – 1999-2024 “. UBB is the Romanian university with the largest number of alumni in the USA and the Romanian university with the most consistent American connections expressed in partnerships, programs and academic projects.
US visas eliminated soon
The purpose of the initiative was to mark the 25th anniversary of an event that aimed to change Romania’s image in the United States. “In 1999, Romania was engaged on the road to NATO. American support was necessary and fundamental. But Romania was not a well-known country in the US at that time. As we remember from that time, in the USA Romania was seen as a former communist country (“Ceaușescu’s”), poor, with problems related to AIDS and institutionalized children. The more positive things were those related to the association with Nadia (Comăneci) and perhaps, touristically, the connection with Dracula“, claims Daniel David.
The Smithsonian dedicated the 1999 edition of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival to Romania, an event that celebrates the cultural traditions of various countries of the world. It was a very good occasion through which Romania was able to introduce itself to the Americans with its cultural richness.
Very large mobilization on the part of the Romanian state authorities – starting with the president at the time, Emil Constantinescu – and the Romanian Cultural Foundation, through the academician Augustin Buzura, had remarkable effects: the event attracted over 1,000,000 visitors and, through the mass media American media, Romania was adequately exposed and known by more than 40,000,000 Americans.
“After 25 years, we believe that Romania is in a similar moment. We are in the final phase of lifting visas for the USA, and Romania must be well prepared for this, with the USA understanding, in turn, our country plans”Daniel David claimed.
UBB Rector: “let’s not spoil Romania’s image, as we did in the EU because of crime”
Between 1998 and 2004, David commuted between the USA and Romania and after that time, annually, 2-3 months he travels to the USA for various academic and research collaborations.
He noticed that after joining NATO, the image of Romania changed significantly and the country began to be known more and more in the USA from a cultural-educational point of view, through researchers, teachers, doctors, and top students who worked here. “We started to generate a very good image, yes, on a cultural, educational side, and it is that the image that dominates now”stated Daniel David for “Adevărul”.
The lifting of visas will inevitably lead to the addition of another reference component, in addition to the cultural-educational one, namely the social-economic one. At the event organized with the Smithsonian, discussions were held on this topic.
“We tried and are trying to prepare, so to speak, our authorities to ensure a positive image of Romania there, that is, to avoid the mistakes we made in the European Union”stated the rector.
On the one hand, the cultural-educational component must be strengthened. “In the discussions I’ve had at the events, things are looking pretty good. The management of the Romanian Cultural Institute is aware of this. The Ministry of Education knows what it has to do, it already has connections with the Smithsonian. The Ministry of Research knows what it has to do, it already has important partnerships. So things from a cultural-educational point of view I think will work well, they will even develop and we have to develop them to keep this profile“, stated the rector.
Let’s follow the model of the Polish plumber, not the Romanian criminal
The challenge, however, will be in the social-economic area.
“On the social-economic area, we must make sure that we go and that we will express ourselves there through, so to speak, specialists, that is, more sophisticated occupations, but also that of craftsmen, I don’t know, plumbers, people who have some occupations very important for society. In the EU, we learned this later, when countries such as France and Italy asked us for partnerships with the Ministry of the Interior and began to collaborate in actions against Romanian crime in those areas”David claimed.
In America it would be good, he believes, to act early so that Romania’s image does not suffer.
“In America we should not rediscover that thing and we should use our experience against Romanian crime in the European area, in order not to reach that phenomenon in the American area. It is a shame, I repeat, for the image of Romania and Romanians in the USA, which is now very well expressed on the cultural-educational dimension. If we also have a socio-economic dimension, it should focus on specialists and serious craftsmen like the UK model of the Polish plumber. Why wouldn’t the Romanian plumber be a good example in the US?”details David.
The UBB rector’s conclusion is that we should learn from the good things we did in the European Union, and control the less good things.
