HAPPY EUROPEAN DAY 2017 CELEBRATIONS
The 2017 European Day ceremony was officially opened with the traditional cake-cutting by President Professor Dr. Anton Caragea together with Academician Mircea Constantinescu, and High Commissioner for Tourism, Mr. Mark Doda as well as all ECTT accredited ambassadors in Bucharest.
The reception was attended by over 1000 people from including prominent guests such as government representatives, diplomatic corps in Bucharest, business leaders, academia, and the media.
The guests where welcomed on the premises by H.E. President Dr. Anton Caragea, European Council on Tourism and Trade leader who seized the moment to make a presentation of Europe`s role in today`s world.
Honourable Ministers,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Colleagues, fellow Europeans and friends of Europe,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Namaste, Salam Alaykum, Good evening, Bonsoir, and a very warm welcome to you all to the 2017 Europe Day celebrations.
First, I would like to express my gratitude to Academicians Mircea Constantinescu and Ionut Costea, Directors of EUROPEAN TOURISM ACADEMY, for kindly agreeing to make available this splendid hall for today’s gathering.
We thought that this year it would be great to bring Europe closer to academicians and professionals and leaders of all walks of life, and to hold our celebrations in this excellent establishment.
Thank you very much to everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen.
Today, 9 May, is Europe Day.
On this day in 1950 Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, called on the nations of Europe to unite and make war on our continent unthinkable.
His message of peace and unity is as relevant as ever.
The dreams of our founding fathers have become a reality, and Europeans live together in peace and prosperity, bound together by principles of democracy and human rights.
Yet, as anyone who follows international news knows, the European Union faces considerable challenges, and I do not want to gloss over these.
But despite all our difficulties the Europe represents the most successful process of regional integration, and remains the richest continent in the world.
In no other place is there so much freedom – freedom to speak our mind, freedom to move, freedom to pray and not to pray, freedom to love, freedom to vote and freedom to choose our own destiny.
Everywhere in the world Europe is a major trading partner, a major investor and we are proudly launching here BEST OF EUROPE/BEST OF WORLD program.
Climate change is another example of Europe prowess and a dear subject to myself as Ambassador for World Protected Areas .
On 22 April 2016, 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement in New York. Fifteen countries deposited their instruments of ratification on the same day sending a signal to the international community on the paramount importance of the implementation of the Agreement.
Our Ambassador office is committed to continue to work closely with all the nations on climate change, not only alongside it in international negotiations, but also as a key partner – providing support for mitigation and adjusting, and on the implementation of the Paris Agreement – the next big challenge.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I want to welcome you this evening not only to the Europe Day Reception, but also to our exhibition showcasing our engagement in tourism, trade and development across the world.
With WORLD BEST TOURIST DESTINATIONand WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM programs we succeeded in the last ten years to bring over 6 billion euro investments in tourism, development and growth sector in Africa and Asia and we created more than 100.000 jobs in tertiary sectors of all the countries that have being supported by EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON TOURISM AND TRADE and EUROPEAN TOURISM ACADEMY programs.
I would like to thank all our development implementing partners for their contributions to the exhibition and for their efforts.
I hope that everyone will take time to discover the breadth and depth of the EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON TOURISM AND TRADE co-operation with developing world.
I would like to express my gratitude in particular to key partners of ours in this day, as DALI HAUTE PARFUMERIE who offered you not only wonderful gifts but provided you with a symbol of what Europe stand`s for culture like Salvador Dali works and the joy of living embodied by wonderful perfumes and also a word of gratitude to our European Diplomatic Wine`s partners like HOUSE OF PANCIU who unveiled for you the best European sparkling wines and HOUSE OF WINES COTNARI who had offered you the gift of incredible European wines.
A word of gratitude to the 23 masters of pastry and cakes, who created the incredible cakes that we will taste tonight.
I will no longer stay between you and the incredible cake awaiting us!
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Happy Europe Day!
Bbahut Dhanyawad, Shukran, Merci beaucoup, Thank you, Danke.”
