On the initiative of the State Secretariat for Religious Denominations of the Government of Romania, on Thursday, May 30, 2013, there was held an interinstitutional working meeting, attended by representatives of the main institutions involved in public policy making for Romanian communities living abroad.
Romanian Presidency was represented by Mr. Iulian Fota, Presidential Adviser, and the Government by Mrs. Luminita Odobescu State Adviser within the Prime Minister Chancellery, the Romanian Parliament was represented by Mr. Gigel Ştirbu, President of the Chamber of Deputies Commission for Culture and Mr. Stejărel Olaru, Secretary of State, represented Department for Romanians Abroad. The meeting has also been attended by representatives of the Romanian Patriarchate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, the Institute "Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi".
The meeting aimed to meet the needs to coordinate the efforts of public authorities, cults and all other institutional actors involved in steps to back the Romanian communities abroad, aimed at the preservation and affirmation of linguistic, cultural and spiritual identity, at the consolidation of the relations with the country of the origin and community solidarity structuring.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Victor Opaschi, State Secretary for Religious Denominations, welcomed the interest of the institutions represented at the meeting for the issue of the management of relations with Romanians living abroad, while stressing the need to identify some converging action lines in the activity of the institutions with responsibilities in the field. He outlined the role of the church in the Diaspora as a community clotting factor and has noted the need to strengthen cooperation between state institutions and the Romanian Orthodox Church which, along with other religious groups contribute significantly and effectively to the effort to consolidate and preserve spiritual and national identity profile of Romanians abroad.

There have been presented projects and programs undertaken by the State Secretariat for Religious Denominations with a view to backing Romanian parishes and churches abroad, highlighting their role as centers of social inclusion and identity preservation. Participation in the debates of the last two decades coordinators of the State Secretariat for Religious Denominations- Nicolae Branzea, Laurentiu Tanase Adrian Lemeni, Gigel Ştirbu confirmed the organic development and continuity in the observance of democratic principles underlying the Romanian state's position in relation to cults, including in line of the active support of their development within the Romanian communities abroad.
On the meeting, there have also been presented the experiences and projects developed by the participating institutions and there has also insisted on the need to find convergent and coherent solutions to support Romanians abroad. Investigating deeper the needs of the Romanian communities abroad, differentiating between the needs of different types of Romanian communities (of the neighboring countries, respectively Diaspora itself, communities in the first, second or third generation, etc..) and identification of effective projects and programs were common points of debate.
The participants appreciated that it is necessary both the appeal to classical diplomacy means and to the ecumenical and cultural diplomacy to promote understanding of the positive role the Romanian communities have for the life of the societies where they seek to integrate.
To this end, there has been outlined the need to develop projects and traditional support instruments, such as the building of churches, classical and electronic libraries or cultural centers and organizing, in partnership with those communities and institutions in the countries of residence of social inclusion projects and programs.
The meeting debates have also outlined the necessity to intensify joint efforts to promote the interests of the Romanian communities abroad, through the contributions of all stakeholders and broad consultations both at the level of the Romanian state institutions, the Church and civil society level.
The participants have emphasized, finally, the usefulness of the meeting and set the regular continuation of this format of consultations.
State Secretariat for Religious Denominations