Manama: Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said yesterday that his country was looking forward to a surge in the number of Arab students at its universities.
"We are keen on improving our relations and cooperation with the Arab world, and we are hoping to have more Arab students attending our higher education institutes," Nastase told Gulf News in Manama where he is attending an international forum.
Romania had warm relations with Arab countries during Nicolae Ceausescu's communist regime, and thousands of Arab students attended Romanian universities in the 1970s and 1980s. However, following the change of the regime in 1989, the number of Arab students steadily decreased.
The difficult conditions for Arabs and Muslims in the Western world and extensive reports of abuse and discrimination in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks led several students not to venture outside. Wary of the dwindling number of students from Arab and Muslim countries, several Western universities set up branches mainly in Gulf countries.
Priorities
The Romanians, however, said that they would push to attract students once again to their universities.
"Our priorities in the aftermath of the regime change were to ensure political and economic stability, particularly that our geographical position was very delicate. We were neither East nor West, and we needed a higher level of security and stability, so entry in Nato and the European Union topped our priority, followed by economic stability. Now that we have fulfilled that, we are looking towards improving partnerships and cooperation with our friends in the region," said Nastase who was prime minister between 2000 and 2004 and is now a deputy. Romania joined Nato in 2004 and the EU in 2007.
Relations and cooperation with the Arab world could improve through greater visibility and the exchange of visits, Nastase said.
"We should look forward to working together because it is in everybody's interest. The potential is there and we should be able to use it constructively," he said.
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief