Ministrul afacerilor externe Bogdan Aurescu a avut o intervenție luni, 22 februarie 2021, în sistem videoconferință, în cadrul ceremoniei de deschidere a proiectului „Call of Diplomacy”, organizat de Asociația Europeană a Studenților în Drept (ELSA București). Proiectul, aflat la cea de-a V-a ediție, se desfășoară în perioada 22-26 februarie și constă într-o serie de ateliere tematice (workshop-uri) în format fizic și online.

Proiectul se adresează studenților interesați de domeniul diplomației și al relațiilor internaționale și are drept invitați diplomați din cadrul Ministerului Afacerilor Externe și din cadrul misiunilor diplomatice străine de la București.

În intervenția sa, ministrul Bogdan Aurescu a făcut referire la complexitatea profesiei diplomatice și la cunoștințele pe care tinerii care aspiră la o astfel de carieră trebuie să și le însușească, cu accent asupra pregătirii în domeniul dreptului internațional și a înțelegerii fenomenelor globale și a evoluțiilor geopolitice.

De asemenea, șeful diplomației române a împărtășit unele momente-cheie din experiența sa profesională, inclusiv semnarea, în anul 2011, a Declarației comune privind Parteneriatul Strategic pentru Secolul XXI între România și SUA și a Acordului privind amplasarea sistemului de apărare împotriva rachetelor balistice al Statelor Unite în România, în negocierea căruia a condus delegaţia României. Un alt moment evocat de ministrul afacerilor externe în intervenția sa a fost procesul privind Delimitarea Maritimă în Marea Neagră, finalizat, la 3 februarie 2009, prin cea de a 100-a Hotărâre a Curții Internaționale de Justiție, ce a reprezentat prima și unica extindere de jurisdicție suverană și drepturi suverane ale României după Marea Unire din 1918, ministrul Bogdan Aurescu conducând la acea vreme, în calitate de Agent al României în fața CIJ, demersurile țării noastre în acest caz.

Totodată, ministrul Bogdan Aurescu a abordat provocările și oportunitățile unei cariere diplomatice, necesitatea unei abordări interdisciplinare a acestui domeniu vast, precum și oportunitățile specifice de carieră pe care le oferă Ministerul Afacerilor Externe în prezent. În final, șeful diplomației române a transmis felicitări organizației ELSA București pentru organizarea proiectului „Call of Diplomacy” și a urat succes participanților.

Regăsiți, mai jos, transcrierea discursului în limba engleză susținut de ministrul afacerilor externe Bogdan Aurescu:

Dear students, esteemed colleagues,

I am delighted to join the opening ceremony of these series of events and workshops organized by ELSA and dedicated to diplomacy. It is always a pleasure to address young, ambitious students, who take such great interest in the world of international relations and foreign policy. 

I speak before you in my dual capacity: as a career diplomat and minister of foreign affairs, on one hand, as well as from the position of university professor of public international law, on the other.

Diplomacy is a complex profession – a vocation, actually.  Diplomats need a wide set of professional skills, abilities and extended knowledge of history, international relations, economy, culture, geography and many other fields. Because our profession is an inter-disciplinary one, one needs to combine inputs from various domains. The complexity of today’s world calls for dedicated, well-prepared and value-driven diplomats, who are capable to think out of the box, to adapt quickly and to approach a very dynamic work environment, with high energy.

Ideally, in my view, a diplomat has a legal educational background, with an elevated understanding of global phenomena and geopolitics dynamics. It is my firm belief, and I have said it many times, that international law must be part of every diplomat’s DNA.

International law provides a much-needed set of rules and valuable precedents, which are of fundamental importance to the international legal order.

As diplomats, we use international law every day. Analysing unfolding events on the international agenda, elaborating our national position on various dossiers, performing negotiations of treaties and addressing, in multilateral fora, the sensitive issues related to the potential breaches of international law.

During my career so far, I have been involved in complex legal proceedings, combining diplomacy and international law. For example, during the time I was Agent of Romania before the International Court of Justice and now, as a member of the UN International Law Commission. I hope that at least some of you will, one day, opt for a similar path.

I also fondly remember the negotiations I had the honour to lead, on behalf of Romania, of the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the XXIst Century between Romania and the United States and of the Agreement between Romania and the United States on the deployment of the US ballistic missile defence system in Romania. This year we celebrate 10 years since the adoption of the first and since the entry into force of the latter.

Recently, on the 3rd of February 2021, we also celebrated 12 years since the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea Case, a great diplomatic success for Romania and for international law. The Court recognized Romania’s jurisdiction and sovereign rights over 9.700 square kilometres of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, which is 80% of the disputed area. It is important to mention that the Romanian team was formed mainly of graduates of the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been offering, for decades, opportunities for a considerable number of law graduates who became diplomats. They now work within the MFA Directorates and Departments, dealing with national and international law on a daily basis. The Legal Affairs Department, which includes the International Treaties Directorate and the International Law and European Union Law Directorate, or the Office for Implementation of International Sanctions, are just a few examples of teams in which law graduates can practice and develop their diplomatic careers around international law. These legal structures of the ministry are not purely technical. They also have a considerable input from a political and diplomatic angle, as one does not go without the other.

But, as I mentioned earlier, the work in the MFA requires a combined exercise of many skills and knowledgeable use of interdisciplinary information. This is why, graduates of history, political science, international relations, economics or journalism, just to name a few, complete the Ministry’s team at home and abroad, bringing valuable contributions to the attainment of our country’s foreign policy objectives.

The diplomatic activity has always been, along the history, a key driver for the modernization of our society, focusing on the development of international relations by means of cooperation and mutual understanding. Respecting and promoting international law is at the core of our efforts and our foreign policy.

The ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, once again, the importance of the fundamental values that guide our diplomatic action: profound attachment to multilateralism, respect for international law and, of course, for democratic values.

One of the main advantages of working within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, beyond the great satisfaction and responsibility of working in the interest of your own country, is the contribution that diplomats can make to the progress of this multi-faceted field and to the direct benefit of their fellow citizens.

I would like to invite all of you to strongly consider choosing diplomacy as a career path. I am convinced that your participation at the workshops organised by ELSA and direct contacts with the foreign Embassies in Romania and ministry officials, will provide important insights into what the diplomatic profession entails.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the Bucharest Branch of the ELSA for this very successful and useful exercise. I wish you the best of success!

Thank you!