The speech delivered by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs, Cătălin Predoiu, on the occasion of Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program, an event organized by the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.
Your Excellency,
Dear Mr. O’Brien,
Dear President of the Senate, members of the Parliament,
Dear colleagues, members of the Government,
Dear representatives of the business environment,
Esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen,
„I would like to thank Her Excellency, Mrs. Kathleen Kavalec, for the kind invitation to this event, to mark together, the fulfilment of one of the most important objectives for our country- the inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program.
It is a moment to celebrate the privileged relationship between Romania and the United States of America, the friendship, trust and close cooperation that we have.
First- a big thank you to Her Excellency, Mrs. Kathleen Kavalec and the team from the US diplomatic mission in Bucharest for all the support given in this endeavour.
Further on, I express my appreciation for the Government of Romania for the strategic approach to this objective, as well as to the National Coordinator and the colleagues from the Ministry of Interior and other ministries and institutions, for the involvement they showed throughout this process.
I would like to make a special mention to Assistant Secretary James O’Brien who is also with us today and who attended, yesterday, the 11th High Level Meeting in Quint format in Chișinău. Romania, the United States of America and the European Commission are involved in the development of strategic corridors for transport and mobility for the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. We are grateful for your hand–on approach and constant engagement with our government for implementing this initiative.
Last but not least, my appreciation goes to the business environment, sports personalities, private companies and the civil society who understood the significance of being part of this complex process.
The inclusion of Romania in the Program will be a promotor of the economic dimension of the Strategic Partnership, both in terms of consolidating the American investment presence in Romania and increasing the volume of bilateral trade.
The VWP will significantly contribute to tourism and cultural exchange, fostering a deeper understanding between the U.S. and Romania and encouraging more people to explore new destinations, experience diverse cultures, and create international friendships.
The VWP has a notable impact on global business and economic growth, facilitating smooth travel for business professionals and investors.
We have a tradition of cooperation within AMRO (the American-Romanian Business Council) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, on the occasion of the missions organized annually in our country, which facilitated the contacts with American companies and discussions on topics of interest from the perspective of our institution.
From the perspective of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this moment emphasizes our firm commitment to promote the highest standards of security, combating cross-border criminality and border management, a subject that will remain the central theme of our bilateral cooperation.
The Visa Waiver Program is primarily a security partnership, and in this context, the Ministry, together with the Department of Homeland Security, has implemented, based on the legal documents we have concluded, advanced tools for the rapid identification and prevention of security threats, namely the Consolidated Border Security Partnership (EBSP) and the Automated Targeting System – Global (ATS-G) program.
These instruments have as a fundamental base two important legal documents that were concluded in January 2024, the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of The United States of America regarding collaboration on the use of traveler information and the Implementing Arrangement between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Romania and the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America under the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America on Enhancing Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Serious Crime.
Further on, I would like to give you some details concerning our work in this project. MAI created the MAI–GATE IT application developed with its own resources for receiving and transmitting information from/to the American side. Thus, we fully respond to the need to cooperate closely with the American authorities in order to identify in an operative and professional manner the problems related to ensuring internal security and combating serious crimes, in all forms of manifestation and wherever these phenomena are present.
At the same time, in order to intensify police cooperation with the USA, the Cross-Border Criminal Investigations Unit was created at the level of the Romanian Police, with the aim of combating cross-border crimes and migrant trafficking, this being the only structure of this kind in the region. The center functions as a regional hub that also covers the Western Balkans, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
These are just few of the requirements we fulfilled, thus demonstrating the important role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this whole process, in meeting the technical criteria for inclusion in the Program.
Last but not least, as part of the government campaign to reduce the visa refusal rate, the Ministry of Internal Affairs allocated significant resources and developed an efficient scheduling system for its own staff, thus contributing to achieving a refusal rate below 3%. We had 18.365 applicants, which means a contribution of two thirds to the entire governmental effort to reach the 2.61% of the visas refusal rate.
In light of these achievements, I can only agree with the words expressed by our American colleagues at the last Tripartite meeting in Bruxelles that Romania is a best practice example of how to properly manage such a huge and complex process and get it done.
The inclusion in the visa waiver programme is the second largest objective and success of the Ministry of Interior in the last few months, after Schengen accession, both of them contributing to people’s lives and generating positive effects with impressive consequences in our economy.
Achieving these two major objectives would not have been possible without the hard work and constant effort of the team within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the last years, dozens of inter-institutional working meetings were held, tens, perhaps hundreds of documents were developed and many rounds of negotiations took place, either online or physically, to which several structures from our ministry contributed.
I am aware of the efforts made by my colleagues and once again I want to sincerely thank them and assure them of all my appreciation.
Dear friends,
Unfortunately, this objective, as well as the one related to Schengen accession, was not too present in the public arena, if we think at its consequences for the Romanian citizens and the business environment.
The explanations are many. On one hand, pre and post-electoral context, budgetary constraints and other issues have covered the public agenda. On the other hand, many Romanian citizens openly express their dissatisfaction about the different aspects of the political life that let them down. Romanian citizens expect the mainstream parties to demonstrate their capacity to ensure meritocracy, promoting leaders that have contributed with concrete actions for the benefit of the country and have demonstrated that they have solid carriers and professions, in business or political environment, based on tangible results and not on empty words and promises.
If failing to deliver on such expectations, mainstream parties will not regain the necessary credibility to present such an event, as the inclusion in the visa waiver programme, at its true value for the Romanian citizens.
I am confident that such an endeavour-promoting meritocracy in politics- still has its chances to succeed.
In the end of my intervention, I express once again my appreciation for the decision of the American authorities, which represents a recognition of the intense efforts at the level of the Romanian administration and is the result of the excellent bilateral cooperation and the Strategic Partnership established between Romania and the United States of America.”
Thank you!
