Romania honours five Pakistanis for promoting bilateral ties

December 15, 2012

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The Romanian government has presented merit awards to five Pakistanis for promoting relations between the two countries. Romanian Ambassador HE Emilian gave away awards for education, business, trade and economy, culture and media. Several ambassadors, ministers and members of the civil society attended the award ceremony.
The ambassador congratulated the award winners and hoped that they would continue rendering their services for the promotion of relations between the two countries. He announced that Romania had introduced a special visa regime for Pakistani businessmen. He said that businessmen who had a valid Schengen visa could stop over in Romania for a week.
Emilian said that this was a positive step and hoped that it would promote economic activity between the two countries.
“I am happy to announce that there will be direct flights between Romania and Pakistan in 2013,” he said.
A group of Romanian businessmen had decided to launch direct flights between the two countries, he said. Flights will be operated from Lahore to Bucharest twice a week and the frequency could be increased later, he added.
Emilian said the airline company had already bought three planes to connect Bucharest with Lahore. This initiative will give a new dimension to our bilateral relations, he added. Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Zafar Bakhtawari thanked the Romanian government and said that the ICCI will take a delegation to Romania to explore more avenues of mutual cooperation.
Bakhtawari welcomed the Romanian government’s decision to give visa incentives to Pakistani businessmen and the launch of direct flights. He said these steps would spur trade and economic activity between the two states. The ambassador presented these awards to National School of Mathematics Managing Director Raza Chaudhry, Pakistan Romania Business Council Chairman Sohail Shamim Firpo, ICCI President Zafar Bakhtawari, Businessman Faiq Jawed and media representative Ansar Mahmood Bhatti.